LAGABLAB is a Philippine advocacy network that works for the promotion and protection of LGBTQ+ rights in the Philippines. They engage in legislative advocacy, policy reform, and community empowerment (only on Facebook).
This latest report in our Stop the War on Children series looks in detail at one of the grave violations: children at risk of recruitment and use by armed forces or armed groups. There has been a rise in the number of verified incidents of children recruited and used by armed forces and groups, and the number of groups recruiting children has also increased. In three countries – Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen – the vast majority of children in conflict zones are deemed at risk of recruitment. This report and its key findings illustrate the war on children.
Article 38/3 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), states parties are prohibited from recruiting any person who has not attained the age of 15 years into the armed forces. Likewise, even in recruiting among those persons who have attained the age of 15 years but who have not attained the age of 18 years, states and non-state armed groups shall endeavour to give priority to those who are oldest.
Nevertheless, the recruitment of children as combatants by non-state armed groups in the Philippines continues despite the prohibitions set by the UNCRC and its Optional Protocols.
Enforced disappearances have been a well known to Sri Lanka before, during and the `post´ conflict scenario. However, from time to time we have had large scale disappearances becoming widely used since the 1980s onwards, connected to the politico-military situation and in local areas of the country.
One of the little-asked questions in debates over the death penalty is what happens to the children of the offender. The arrest, sentencing and (potential)execution of a parent affect children greatly, but they receive little consideration and less support.
A situation analysis on Child Protection in the Philippines commissioned by the Save the Children Child Protection Initiative (CPI ) that could be used to guide the development of child protection interventions under CPI’s priority areas, which include: Children without appropriate care; Child protection in emergencies; and Child labour. The CPI initiative aims to upgrade the capacities of local authorities and municipalities to improve the wellbeing of disadvantaged children and increase the level of knowledge of policies and programmes that address critical child issues, such as abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence.
This covers a wide-range of interventions and services and should be preceded by careful assessment and planning within the local context, which would include the local perceptions of distress and illness, coping mechanisms, and the mapping of the communitys capacity to cope. In the Philippines, the National Disaster Coordinating Council MHPSS Sub-committee saw a need to develop a Rapid Assessment Tool for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (MHPSS-RAT) which will provide immediate assessment of thevulnerable population and relevant resources in the first twenty-four hours of onset in mass emergencies and disasters.
Torture in children happens during peace times and during political violence and war conflicts. The majority of torture victims happen during peace times. The high-risk groups are impoverished children living in the street, children deprived of parental care, children in conflict with the law, and children in detention. During political violence and war the high risk children are the children detained during political violence, child soldiers, children internally displaced in refugee camps, detained children during the war against terrorism and children tortured by peacekeeping forces.
President Rodrigo Duterte has plunged the Philippines into its worst human rights crisis since the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970s and 1980s. His “war on drugs,” launched after he took office in June 2016, has claimed an estimated 12,000 lives of primarily poor urban dwellers, including children.
As a human rights institution, it renders psychosocial rehabilitation services to victims of human rights violations in the Philippines. Specifically, it caters to the needs of victims of internal displacement arising from development aggression and armed conflict; political detention; extra-judicial killings or summary execution; and to survivors of enforced disappearance.
The Medical Action Group (MAG) – the Philippines – is a health service organization of physicians, nurses, dentist, psychologists, health students and health workers collectively working for the promotion and defense of Health and Human Rights for All.
The Task Force Detainees of the Philippines is a non-profit, national human rights organization concerned with documenting human rights violations, assisting the victims and their families in their material and legal needs, and conducting human rights education work.