I'm posting some of my images on a photosite called Photoholik and thought I'd do some cross posting. You've seen some of the images here on my blog, but my write ups are new so check it out if you're interested:
Alex on Photoholik
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This boy's father is also imprisoned in Camp Bagong Diwa. His family decided to leave Mindanao for Manila so as to be able to keep the family close. They were lucky as the wife's sister lived in the capital so the transition was made easier.
This photo was taken during a CRC event, that's their banner that you've seen before to the left of the photo.
As I've written before, the CRC works with children that are victims of state violence. The Philippines has experienced civil unrest for it's entire history since colonialisation. Today there are two main insurgencies: the New People's Army (based around the country) and the various Muslim fronts (from the more moderate Moro Islamic Liberation Front--the largest of the active Muslim fronts, to the tiny band of extremists in the Abu Sayaff group).
For the Muslims this fight results from:
- Pride: they, along with many of the indigenous groups, were never defeated and colonised so they don't feel any allegiance to what they see as a neo-colonial government in Manila.
- Unequal Distribution of Wealth: Mindanao is probably the most mineral and natural resource rich island in the Philippines and so they feel that the amount of money they get from the central government to be inequitable relative to how much the island makes for the nation.
- Lack of Political Power: They feel that they have no say as regards their economic and political future.
- Militarisation: All of the above come together and result in increased militarisation and all the human rights disasters that come with it. For example the central gov will let a foreign owned giant into a community without the community's consent. The company's plans (for example a mining company) displace people, destroy the local environment, result in health problems, and ruin livelihoods. This results in resistance. You can see where that goes.
Eventually this spills into other communities not directly affected by the company's actions. And this results in the military causing problems all over Mindanao (and across the country).
The country has a huge problem with internally displaced peoples. Almost every week in the country there is a community that is forced to leave their homes so as to avoid military harrassment or attacks.
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According to Amnesty International:
Over recent years the number of killings of political and community activists in the Philippines has continued to increase. The methodology of the attacks has led Amnesty International to conclude that the attacks constitute a politically-motivated pattern of killings. The organization remains gravely concerned that members of the security forces may have been directly involved or been complicit in the killings. In this report Amnesty International highlights a number of recommendations, addressed to the government, international organisations, civil society organisations and the armed groups, and calls for concerted action.
Download their report here: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA35/006/2006
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UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston report on the human rights condition of the Phils is a good introduction to the situation: http://stopthekillings.org/stknpv2/?q=resources/60/alston%E2%80%99s-final-report-rp-extrajudicial-killings
CRC webpage: http://members.tripod.com/~childrehab/home.html
