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U.S.-Philippine Anti-terror Exercises Could Increase Human Rights Violations: Amnesty
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| Filipino Muslims protest U.S. military presence in front of U.S. Embassy in Manila.
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MANILA, Feb. 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A joint U.S.-Philippine anti-terror campaign in the southern Philippines could lead to increased human rights violations, Amnesty International said Tuesday, news agencies reported.
Previous military operations against separatist movements in the south have often been accompanied by "persistent reports of human rights violations," including indiscriminate bombings of villages and the killing of civilians mistakenly tagged as Abu Sayyaf gunmen, the human rights watchdog said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
With the launching last week of joint training exercises in the south, "the need for watchfulness has intensified," Amnesty said in a statement released in Manila.
"Though largely hidden in a context of armed conflict, communal tension, violent crime and kidnapping, reports of torture and other human rights violations persist," it said.
"The U.S. should ensure that its training, supplies and support are not used to further violate human rights," Amnesty said.
It also called on Manila to ensure that "all possible steps are taken to reinforce and uphold human rights safeguards."
Some 600 U.S. troops are joining the six-month training exercises in the south aimed at helping Filipino soldiers crush the Abu Sayyaf, a small group of fighters allied to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, who are holding hostage two Americans and a Filipina.
Officially, U.S. soldiers will not join combat operations, but could join patrols in Basilan island and are allowed to fire back if attacked.
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| Leftist protesters demand the pull out of all U.S. troops from the country. |
In another development, the Supreme Court in Manila Tuesday ordered the government to explain the legal basis for the joint anti-terror operations with U.S. troops underway in the southern Philippines, court officials said, AFP reported.
The court also ordered Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo to answer in 10 days a petition seeking to stop the deployment of hundreds of U.S. troops in the south.
Romulo is chief aide to President Gloria Arroyo.
Two lawyers urged the Supreme Court Friday, February 1, to stop the operations, which the government said would involve at least 600 U.S. troops.
Lawyers Arthur Lim and Paulino Ersando argued that the deployment made a "mockery of the Philippine constitution", which prohibits the entry of U.S. troops for possible combat on Philippine soil.
A 1999 visiting forces agreement (VFA) allowing American troops to take part in war games with Filipino soldiers was insufficient legal cover for the current U.S. action, they said.
"Certainly, there is no provision in the VFA that allows U.S. troops to be deployed even only as a trainer or an adviser as chaperone for Filipino troops in a war zone area like the one in Basilan," the petition read
But Filipino officials insist the deployments are legal, and stress that the Americans will serve only as observers and advisers when they accompany Filipino soldiers on patrol in southern Basilan island, where separatists are holding two U.S. citizens hostage.
However, the American troops would be armed and authorized to fire back in self-defense, they said.
Lim and Ersando argued "the VFA does not allow U.S. troops to engage in combat disguised as an exercise. The VFA does not authorize American soldiers to fire back even if fired upon by the common enemy."
The Supreme Court is the final arbiter on constitutional cases.
Meanwhile, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, who returned Tuesday from a three-nation tour, vowed to forge ahead in the war against terrorism despite protests from separatist groups and misgivings from her vice-president.
"The leaders and people of the world ... know and appreciate our unswerving stand against terrorism and poverty," Arroyo said on her return from a trip that took her to Britain, Canada and the United States.
She said she also discussed terrorism issues with King Abdullah of Jordan and he offered to provide the Philippines with intelligence on "international terrorists who maintain cells all over the region."
"He asked to send the head of my intelligence to Jordan so they can work out the intelligence fusion arrangements," Arroyo said without elaborating.
Arroyo's return home was marked by new rumblings from her vice president Teofisto Guingona over her decision to allow the U.S. military deployment.
Guingona, who is also foreign minister, threatened to quit last month over the U.S. presence, but eventually backed down and stayed on.
In a radio interview Tuesday, Guingona expressed opposition to a reported presidential order cutting him out of a task force that monitors the U.S. presence.
Leftist groups have been holding almost-daily protests against the deployment of U.S. troops.
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