Text of letter from PIPLinks to President Arroyo re CERD country observations

President Arroyo
c/o the Philippines Embassy
8 Suffolk Street
London, SW1 4HG


18 September 2009

Your Excellency,

I am taking the opportunity of your visiting the United Kingdom, to write on behalf of Indigenous Peoples Links, a UK-based support organisation working to uphold and promote the collective and individual human rights of Indigenous Peoples. We would like to raise issues around the concluding observations of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which were made public on 31st August 2009.

The CERD issued its recommendations to the Philippines Government following its review of the Government's overdue report (and in doing so invited the Philippines "to observe the deadlines set for the submission of its reports in the future"). The CERD welcomed various positive developments in the legal framework, such as the 1997 Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). However, it raised a number of concerns and recommendations in relation to respect for Indigenous Peoples' rights in practice.

In relation to the mining operations of TVI in the Ancestral Domain of the Subanon of Mt Canatuan, which has been subject to a submission to CERD's Early Warning Urgent Action Sub-Committee, the Committee noted that it "remains concerned that contradictory information continues to be presented to it with regard to the status of actions taken to address the violations of the Subanon people's rights and destruction of their sacred mountain." To address these violations of the Subanon's rights the Committee urged the Government 'to consult with all concerned parties in order to address the issues over Mt. Canatuan in a manner that respects customary laws and practices of the Subanon people and welcomes information from the State party in relation to further developments'

The Committee made an extensive set of recommendations in relation to its concern regarding the Government's implementation of Indigenous Peoples' rights, including urging the Government to:
· acknowledge that racial discrimination exists in the Philippines;
· gather disaggregated data on the situation of Indigenous Peoples through a consultative process with them;
· ensure that Indigenous Peoples are protected in situations of armed conflict and that independent and impartial investigations are conducted into all allegations of human rights violations;
· adopt adequate measures in order to ensure the enjoyment by internally displaced [Indigenous Peoples] of their rights under article 5 of the Convention, especially their right to security and their economic, social and cultural rights;
· conduct an independent review, in consultation with indigenous peoples, of the legislative framework in relation to indigenous property, with particular regard to the question of consistency between the IPRA, its implementing guidelines, the Regalian doctrine and other related doctrines, as well as the Mining Act of 1995;
· fully implement the IPRA, in particular by securing the effective enjoyment by indigenous peoples of their rights to ancestral domains, lands and natural resources, and ensuring that economic activities, especially mining, carried out on indigenous territories do not adversely affect the protection of the rights recognised to indigenous peoples under the aforementioned Act;
· streamline the process for obtaining land rights certificates and take effective measures to protect communities from retaliations and violations when attempting to exercise their rights;
· verify that the current structures and guidelines/procedures established to conduct FPIC are in accordance with the spirit and letter of the IPRA and set realistic time frames for consultation processes with indigenous peoples.';
· verify that the apparent lack of formal protests is not the result of a lack of effective remedies, the victims' lack of awareness of their rights, fear of reprisals, or a lack of confidence in the NCIP;
· 'to consider ratifying...ILO International Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (No. 169)' and 'making the optional declaration provided for in article 14 of the Convention'.

Finally the Committee required the Government to report back in one year in relation to:-
· actions taken to implement the recommendations of the reports of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions and of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of Indigenous People;
· developments at Mt Canatuan in relation to the respect for customary laws and practices of the Subanon people;
· steps taken to streamline the process for obtaining land rights certificates and to put effective measures in place to protect communities from retaliations and violations when attempting to exercise their rights.

Given the above we would like to enquire what concrete measures your Government will take in order to implement these recommendations, particularly to ensure that the voice of Indigenous Peoples is heard more directly with regard to these important issues. Specifically we would like to know how you intend to "conduct an independent review, in consultation with indigenous peoples, of the legislative framework in relation to indigenous property", that also verifies "current structures and guidelines/procedures established to conduct FPIC are in accordance with the spirit and letter of the IPRA".

We look forward to hearing back from you at your earlier convenience.

Yours faithfully,


Geoff Nettleton
Coordinator
Indigenous Peoples Links