Human Rights Forum Held In Basilan Island

Photos sent to the Mindanao Examiner by the Suara Bangsamoro show students listen to human rights speakers during a forum Monday, July 14, 2008 in Basilan island. And Marie Enriquez, of the human rights group Karapatan, gives out a phamplet on human rights to students.

BASILAN, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 15, 2008) – Human rights advocates and former victims of military abuses held a forum in Basilan province and urged citizens to stay vigilant and protect their rights.

The forum, sponsored by the Liga ng Kabataang Moro, also commemorated the military crackdown on local Muslims in 2001 in Basilan during an all-out campaign against the militant Abu Sayyaf group.

The forum, attended by students and teachers, became a reunion for human rights activists, who in 2001, sought families of human rights victims and help them get justice through a fact-finding mission that led to a congressional inquiry into military abuses in Basilan.

More than 500 mostly innocent Muslims were arrested and tortured by soldiers on suspicion they were supporters or members of the Abu Sayyaf group during the crackdown.

Amirah Ali Lidasan, national president of the human rights group Suara Bangsamoro, said ten people were summarily executed and more than 70,000 more displaced by the military operation.

Marie Enriquez, a veteran human rights fighter and also the chairperson of Karapatan, told the students of Basilan State College and families of the victims on how her group reported the cases of abuses to the United Nations and different human rights organizations abroad.

Enriquez also described how Basilan became a laboratory for the military as a precursor to the implementation of Oplan Bantay Laya I and II, a codename used in military operations against insurgents in Mindanao, which became a crackdown against activists and human rights defenders nationwide.