Ivan's posts with tag: ejk
Below is the letter of invitation we circulated to people in 2005 when the Arroyo Administration had implemented CPR: callibrated pre-emptive response and a policy on "no permit, no rallies". We, in the LGBT community thought we had to share in the burden and responsibility of upholding the rights and freedoms of all Filipino people--heterosexuals, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, transsexuals, and others. To highlight the community's conviction and aspiration we also used CPR to mean Celebrating Pride and Rights. En route to historic Plaza Miranda in Quiapo there were about 3,000 of us, probably more, participants and spectators cheering, jubilant, proud and most of all, DEFIANT and BRAVE.
With the recent attacks on the humanity of LGBTs in the Philippines--1) Jan-jan's dignity stripped with the humiliation he suffered from the hands of Cebu doctors and nurses at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center and with the un-Christian statements of the Cebu Monsignor all these because Jan-jan, the victim, is poor and gay; 2) the bar and bath raids involving police extortion and higher TV ratings; 3) the Makati-Ayala "policy" disallowing transgenders and transsexuals from entering certain bars and establishments to curb "prostitution" which dampened the anniversary celebration of Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines; and 4) the Catholic Church's ban on gays to participate in the Santacruzan/Flores de Mayo with Manila Archbishop calling such participation as "horrendous" and "an insult to the Blessed Mother"--and with the long-standing and continuing socio-economic discrimination and structural-systemic violence towards the poor people of this country, I have a feeling it's time once again to assert the recognition, protection and promotion of human rights and freedoms of the Filipino lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, and poor, marginalized people.
What do you think?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
December 8, 2005
Dear Friends,
Warm rainbow greetings from LGBT Freedom March Organizing Committee!
The current political crisis in this country presents threats to our freedoms and liberties, both as Filipinos and as LGBTs. We continue to experience discrimination, harassment, abuse and violence because of our gender identity and expression and sexual orientation. Yet the state – which is bound to respect, protect, and promote our human rights – has not done its duty.
In this light, we wish to voice out and express our concern at the current crisis in our country. On this tenth year of the Pride March – which we have called the Freedom March – we want to express support to the call for systemic and structural change. The theme for this year is, "CPR: Celebrating Pride and Rights".
On December 10, 2005, in celebration of International Human Rights Day, we are inviting you to join us as we march in the streets of Manila. The parade will be held in the vicinity of España going to Plaza Miranda, with assembly time set at 3 pm in front of UST. The parade is expected to start at 4 pm and end at 5 pm at Plaza Miranda. A program with performances and speeches depicting LGBT pride will be held from 5pm to 8 pm at Plaza Miranda. We have secured a permit from the mayor's office to enable us to hold the parade and program. We hope you will join us in this important event and express your support and solidarity to the aspiration for change of all LGBTs, and of all Filipinos.
Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
Malu S. Marin and Bruce P. Amoroto
For the LGBT Freedom March Committee
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7793.html By Tony Grew • June 2, 2008 - 16:49  Mrs Arbour, 61, is a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
In a valedictory speech to the United Nations Human Rights Council today, Louise Arbour has challenged the continued oppression of women and sexual minorities. She is to step down later this month as the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights. "A failure to understand or accommodate diversity has inevitably led to an erosion of the rights of minorities and vulnerable people within a country, and those of individuals who move across borders, including refugees or migrants," she told the 47-member council. "Fears and mutual suspicions, engendered by the security environment that has prevailed in the past few years, have exposed minorities to additional risks and abuse. "The perpetuation of prejudices continue to deny equal rights and dignity to millions worldwide on the basis of nothing more innocuous than their sexual identity or orientation, or their ancestry, in the case of caste discrimination. "Whether these are explicitly articulated grounds of prohibited discrimination or not, it remains that they are immutable personal attributes, or, as in the case of religious adherence, they are personal choices that could only be forcibly abandoned at an unconscionable personal cost. "Against this background and the moving target of interests and values, international human rights law cannot be pigeon-holed to deny protection to those whose discriminatory exclusion is real, and who are entitled to turn to the law for their protection. "It must provide the best, the most reliable and fairest guidance for managing and protecting the multiple identities that each of us carries and the values and principles that each of us embraces, for ourselves, and for each other." Mrs Arbour, 61, is a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. She came to international prominence as chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. She will complete her four-year mandate as High Commissioner on 30 June and is not seeking a second term. Her successor, who will be chosen by the UN Secretary General after consultation with member states, has not yet been named. During her time as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights many Muslim and African countries have expressed their displeasure at Mrs Arbour's insistence that gay and lesbian people and women have human rights equal to those of men. She has highlighted the treatment of sexual minorities through her work. Mrs Arbour said the new state reporting system, known as the Universal Periodic Review, could provide a vehicle for scrutiny of the implementation of rights and norms beyond anything ever attempted by the Commission on Human Rights, the ineffective body that was replaced by the Human Rights Council in June 2006. The UPR, which began functioning in April, has examined the human rights record of 32 states so far, and will take four years to complete its first round of all the UN's 192 member states. It illustrates deep divisions on the issue of gay rights. As part of the second stage of the UPR Tonga was advised to decriminalise sexual activity between consenting adults, recommended by the Netherlands, Canada and the Czech Republic. However Bangladesh, a Muslim country, told Tonga it should retain a ban on gay sex. Pakistan has expressed the view that sexual orientation falls outside "universally recognised human rights." Mrs Arbour sounded a note of caution to the Human Rights Council. "Scepticism has not been fully dispelled. "It may at times erode the clarity with which members of the Council and this body as a whole could and should speak on critical human rights protection issues." "We must guard against using criticism of a State or a group of States as a proxy for the expression of hatred against peoples, their origins or beliefs," she said. "We must forcefully condemn all those deplorable and manipulative distortions that hide sinister purposes, such as anti-Semitic or Islamophobic agendas, or that convey any other form of intolerance. "At the same time, we should not hesitate to condemn human rights violations, irrespective of the origins of the perpetrators." Last year Mrs Arbour declared her support for the Yogyakarta Principles. Named after the Indonesian city where they were adopted, the principles were introduced by 29 international human rights experts at a UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva in March 2007. They refer to the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity and address issues such as rape and gender-based violence, extra-judicial executions, torture and medical abuses, repressions of free speech and discrimination in the public services.
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Reference: Prof. Danilo Arao
Department of Journalism
College of Mass Communications
University of the Philippines Diliman
Contact Number: 09178332726
*UP COMMUNITY JOINS MARCH 14 COMMUNAL ACTION FOR TRUTH, JUSTICE AND CHANGE*
Faculty, students, staff and alumni of UP Manila will participate in the March 14, 2008 Communal Action for Truth, Justice and Change in Liwasang Bonifacio. This participation is in line with the UP Diliman's University Council resolutions last February 27, 2008 declaring Gloria Arroyo and Romulo Neri must resign and the March 10, 2008 declaration of the University Council of UP Manila "support(ing) the call of the Filipino people for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign now!" (Please see complete text of UP Manila declaration at the end of this statement)
UP Diliman community's March 14 activities will kick off at 7:00 am with the launching of miniature hot air balloons calling for truth, justice and change at 7 am in the UP Sunken Garden in UP by AGHAM, an organization of scientists. At 12 noon, a program on the AS (Palma Hall) steps will be held by the mutisectoral groups in UP Diliman prior to departure for Liwasang Bonifacio.
The UP Diliman and UP Manila contingents will join forces in Liwasang Bonifacio where the program will include the performance of UP Diliman's Kontra Gapi, the resident gamelan or music and dance ensemble. Media coverage is requested for the above activities.
*Declaration of the University Council*
University of the Philippines Manila
March 10, 2008
* *
*TRUTH, JUSTICE, AND GOOD GOVERNANCE*
We are once again confronted with a serious political crisis caused by the series of exposes of big-time corruption and bribery involving top officials of the Arroyo administration. As responsible and concerned members of the University of the Philippines Manila academic community, we believe it is our duty and right to make our voices heard and to take a stand on the social ills affecting everyone of us.
We believe that integrity and accountability in public office have been severely compromised putting in serious doubt the credibility and legitimacy of the present political dispensation and therefore its capacity to govern.
We are gravely concerned with the persistence of a culture of impunity with the government's indifference and inutility in prosecuting and punishing all those involved in cases of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture. We condemn the continued disappearance of two UP students: *Sherlyn Cadapan* and *Karen Empeno*. There is no place for these human rights violations in a democratic society.
We are outraged by moves of the Arroyo administration to silence witnesses to anomalies and prevent people from participating in peaceful assemblies to express their sentiments.
As professors of UP Manila, we cannot teach our students integrity, service, justice, and good governance if we remain silent in the face of the present national crisis in leadership with such severity as the one we are facing now. We cannot be silent that in the midst of hunger, disease, and other forms of deprivations of our people, billions of public money go into the private bank accounts of unscrupulous government officials and their relatives.
As the Health Science Center of the University of the Philippines System, we are appalled by the deteriorating health conditions and violations of the peoples' right to health. Money that should be used to help save lives, prevent the rise of infectious diseases, and improve the well-being of ordinary Filipinos, and even to fund universal health care, are lost through a system that is permeated by graft and corruption from the barangay level to the highest level of government.
Thus, we are convinced that the search for truth, justice, and good governance in the midst of charges and allegations must be relentlessly pursued especially at this time that the moral ascendancy of the Arroyo administration is being raised.
As an academic institution, we state our stand for truth, accountability, and justice.
- We *CONDEMN* the culture of corruption and impunity characterizing the present political dispensation, and continue to assert for real change in governance by exercising the people's rights of peaceful assembly, to information, and to take active steps to ensure that our fundamental rights and freedoms are protected.
- We* JOIN* the Filipino people in asserting their rights by being actively involved in the search for truth and justice.
- *We SUPPORT the call of the Filipino people for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign now! *
We are one with the Filipino people in their struggle for the truth, justice, and good governance.
*Members of the University Council, UP Manila*
*10 March 2008*
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