FISHERFOLK and environmental groups urged the United Nations (UN) on Monday to conduct an impartial investigation into reports of environmental and human rights violations under the Marcos administration.
The call was made by such groups as the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) and the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment as UN special rapporteur Ian Fry was due in Manila for a state visit from Nov. 6 to 15.
Fry is set to examine the impacts of climate change on human rights and the protection of environmental human rights defenders.
“The UN expert’s visit is timely especially in the face of worsening impacts of climate change and how it fuels human rights abuses in the grassroots communities,” PAMALAKAYA national chairperson Fernando Hicap said, citing how environmental activists who defend Manila Bay from the ongoing reclamation projects now face cases of abduction and judicial harassment.
Aside from human rights violations linked to the Manila Bay reclamation, indigenous groups are threatened by state-sanctioned projects encroaching on their land, Kalikasan national coordinator Jon Bonifacio said in an interview.
“We hope that the UN initiative will shed light on the situation the people on the ground face, as we understand it to be truly grave,” he said. — Jomel R. Paguian
