Manila, Philippines, 30 September 2008 - Child rights advocates led by SALINLAHI Alliance for Children’s Concerns, criticized Sec. Eduardo Ermita’s motive on bringing up the issue of child soldier in the international community.  Sec Ermita was quoted saying that this issue will get them back at the rebels for their continuous accusation on the government forces’ involvement with extra judicial killings.  Mr. Alphonse Rivera, the group’s spokesperson, said “Clearly, this is but a tool of the government to prettify their tarnished image within the international community. But at whose expense?”

With the government’s clear intention, Mr. Rivera has furthered questioned the data presented by Sec. Ermita as biased and therefore highly questionable. “The involvement of the government forces with strings of human rights violations especially with Extra Judicial Killings and enforced disappearance are supported with credible evidences that even their own so called independent body which is the Melo Commission finds it hard to deny the fact that military forces are indeed involved.” With Sec Ermita’s statement he added that “in bringing up the issue of the child soldier in the international community, the AFP wants to shift the focus away from them where in fact according to our documentation, the AFP remains to be number one violator of children’s rights.  

Mr. Rivera also said that the military should be taken to task for continuing to brand children victims of military atrocities as child soldiers, just like the case of Grecil Buya, a 9 year-old student in Compostela Valley who was killed by government military personnel last March of  2007.  “We have documented cases of children branded as child soldiers after falling victims to the military’s various human rights violations. There is the case of “Punks 11,” two of whom are minors, who were arrested, tortured and illegally detained in Benguet. There is also the case of two teenage girls from Baggao, Cagayan, who were shot at by the military while evacuating from their community. Instead of being given medical assistance, the military added insult to injury by charging them with rebellion.  These are just a few examples of cases we have documented. Most of these cases still await a resolution from the Commission on Human Rights,” Rivera said.

Rivera added that the ongoing military offensive in Mindanao has contributed to increased human rights violations against children. “How can Secretary Ermita justify the bombing of civilians in Datu Piang, Maguindanao, where children as young as 3 years old died? They clearly are not child soldiers, despite insinuations by military officials to escape accountability.  Rivera quipped that “by drumbeating on the issue of child soldiers, Malacanang and the AFP are irresponsibly endangering more children. On top of being victims of the military’s human rights violations, being branded as a child soldier makes it a double whammy for them.”

Finally, Mr. Rivera challenged Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, head of the UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children in Situations of Armed Conflict, to investigate violations committed by the AFP, particularly in this continuing military aggression against the Moro people of Mindanao. “Children victims of the AFP are equally deserving of an impartial investigation into their case, as the principle of inclusion and non-discrimination is intrinsic to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Let her office ring out the true bell of justice where children affected by armed conflict are concerned,” Rivera concluded. ###