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Reuters

Murders of land and environmental activists are surging in the Philippines, making it the deadliest country in Asia, according to campaigners who said the government has failed to provide protection.
The Philippines-based rights group Karapatan recorded at least 63 killings of land and environmental activists last year, more than double the previous year.
“There is a climate of impunity and a total lack of access to justice for victims,” said the group’s secretary general, Christina Palabay.

The actual number of victims may be “even higher”, she said on Wednesday.
The UK-based advocacy group Global Witness said this week that 48 land and environmental activists were killed in the Philippines in 2017, making the country second only to Brazil which topped its survey of 22 countries with 57 murders.
Global Witness blamed the rising death toll in the Philippines on “a president who is brazenly anti-human rights, the militarisation of communities, and the failure of government bodies to provide protection for at-risk activists”.
President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman did not respond to calls and an email seeking comment.
Activists say killings have surged amidst a government crackdown on rural communities.
Almost half of the murders of activists were linked to fights against large agricultural businesses, as farmers and indigenous people were forced from their land to make way for plantations of banana and coffee, according to Global Witness.
This administration does not care about people. There is not even an acknowledgement by the government
Joan Carling, adviser to the U.N.
“The priority is business; this administration does not care about people,” said Joan Carling, an adviser to the United Nations on indigenous rights. “There is not even an acknowledgement by the government of the increasingly dangerous climate for defenders. We fear the situation will only get worse.”
Carling is named in a petition – along with more than 600 others, including activists and a UN special rapporteur – that the government submitted to a Manila court, seeking to designate them as “terrorists”.
She said has been living outside the Philippines because of the petition, which Human Rights Watch called “a virtual hit list”.
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the UN special rapporteur on indigenous rights who is on the list as a member of a Maoist rebel group, has denied the allegations and said she feared for her safety and that of other activists.
Activists have called for the lifting of martial law in the island of Mindanao, which accounted for more than two-thirds of the killings last year.
They have also demanded investigations of military personnel and police charged with the killings, and legislation to protect campaigners.
But a Human Rights Defenders Bill that was proposed earlier this year to protect campaigners and establish legal remedies for violations has little chance of passing, Carling said.


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The Philippines

Philippines has become Asia’s deadliest country for land rights activists, according to watchdog

Members of environmental activist group ‘Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment’ display hand cutouts with their messages. Photo: AP

In this Monday, Sept. 21, 2015 photo, protesters display several mock coffins representing victims of killings of activists and Indigenous Peoples to commemorate the 43rd declaration of Martial Law in the country by the late Philippine strongman Ferdinand Marcos. The watchdog group Global Witness says Tuesday, July 24, 2018, that killings of land and environmental activists rose again in 2017, as Mexico and the Philippines registered worrying increases in such murders and Brazil saw the most deaths ever registered in a single country. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Relatives of executed Philippine land rights activists hope campaign for justice will gain ally in President Duterte

Michelle Campos, daughter of murdered land activist Dionel Campos. Photo: AP

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte speaks in front of soldiers at main military Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon city Metro Manila, Philippines July 1, 2016. REUTERS/Erik De Castro

TO GO WITH Philippines-environment-rights-tourism-Palawan FEATURE by Karl Malakunas In a picture taken on February 16, 2011 Patricia Ortega, wife of slain Philippine environment activist Gerry Ortega, shows the picture of her husband at a pet shop in Palawan's capital city, Puerto Princesa. For tourists the Philippine island of Palawan seems like paradise, but for environment activists it feels more akin to a battlefield. Murders and threats on what is promoted as the Southeast Asian nation's last ecological frontier are emblematic of a struggle across the country, where dozens of environment campaigners have been killed over the past decade. Father-of-five "Doc" Gerry Ortega became the latest casualty in late January when a hitman shot him in the head while browsing in a second-hand clothes shop along one of the main roads of Palawan's capital city, Puerto Princesa. AFP PHOTO/NOEL CELIS

‘Land rights have become the number one national issue’: Activists warn of Myanmese military’s land grab

The government, led by President Thein Sein (second left), a former military general, denies a crackdown is taking place. Photo: EPA

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Asia

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Almost half of the murders of activists were linked to fights against large agricultural businesses, as farmers and indigenous people were forced from their land to make way for plantations of banana and coffee
