|
Manila: A human rights group urged the United Nations yesterday to take the Philippines to task for failing to prosecute soldiers suspected of involvement in a string of extrajudicial killings.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said Manila had done little to implement recommendations made last year by Philip Alston, the UN special envoy on extrajudicial killings, as well as the government's own fact-finding commission.
Both have linked soldiers to hundreds of deaths and disappearances of mostly left-wing activists belonging to political organisations that the military brands as fronts for communist rebels.
"The list of actions touted by the Philippine government as progress unfortunately seems little more than 'window-dressing'," said Elaine Pearson, Human Rights Watch's deputy director for Asia.
The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council will hold its first Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines' human rights record on April 11, during which council members can question government representatives in a public session.
|
