PRESS STATEMENT
22 December 2017

Statement of the Commission on Human Rights on the allegations of food blockade in Lianga, Surigao del Sur

Armed conflict gravely disrupts the lives of families and communities who are often caught in the crossfire between combatants. They directly suffer the horrors of war, and all its attendant difficulties and crises. Due attention must be given to their plight as it negatively affects their access to basic human needs and social services.

As such, the Commission on Human Rights urgently calls on the government to ensure that the humanitarian condition of families and communities are protected at all times, especially during conflict situations on the ground.

Armed conflict is one of the primary obstacles to realizing the people’s right to adequate food, as it disrupts food access and availability in affected areas; thereby leaving hunger, malnutrition, and even death in its wake. Internally displaced persons, aside from the dealing with issues of hunger, are likewise confronted with numerous losses—relatives and friends lost to violence; abandoned houses and properties; compromised livelihood and education; while living in constant insecurity and fear.

In cases like these, close coordination among service providers—both government entities at the national and local levels, as well as non-governmental organizations—must be prioritized in order to provide timely humanitarian services to affected populations. Local governments, in particular, must be transparent in their provision of urgently needed services, including those endorsed to them by non-government humanitarian aid providers. In this way, any assistance meant to ease the ill effects of armed conflict is delivered efficiently, effectively, and with dispatch.

The Commission also calls on the armed forces to prioritize humanitarian assistance efforts in this time of Martial Law in Mindanao so that both food and non-food provisions is delivered to the affected communities in a timely and non-discriminatory manner.

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) have clearly laid down provisions on the right to food. As the United Nations Special Rapporteur on this right emphasizes, everyone must enjoy “the right to have regular, permanent and unrestricted access, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food corresponding to the cultural traditions of the people to which the consumer belongs, and which ensure a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and dignified life free of fear.”

The Commission reaffirms the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, and demands the fulfilment of the government’s obligation to protect and respect the rights of its citizens. It is of utmost importance that the humanitarian needs of the population are met even under situations of armed conflict.

We appeal to both government forces and non-government combatants to spare innocent civilians from the armed hostilities. We urge all accountable government agencies to address these pressing issues and provide all the necessary assistance to our innocent brothers and sisters in Surigao del Sur and the whole of Mindanao, as we join them and the entire nation in their prayers for just, lasting, and durable peace. ###

Contact Person:

Atty. Jacqueline Ann C. de Guia
Director, Public Affairs and Strategic Communication Office
Telephone No: (02) 928-5792 0917 591 9833
Email address: comms.chr@gmail.com