Southeast Asian feminists urge Duterte to drop terror tag on rights defenders

MANILA, Philippines — A feminist organization on Thursday called on the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte to drop the accusations of terrorism hurled at women human rights defenders.

 

Just Associates (JASS) Southeast Asia—a women-led human rights network of activists, educators and scholars—maintained that the women rights leaders included on the Department of Justice’s list of terror bodies are “change makers, not terrorists.”

 

“We believe that this criminalization of activists disguised as anti-terrorism is meant to silence legitimate dissent,” the group said. 

 

Local rights group Karapatan said there are 46 human rights defenders on the list. Among them are UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Karapatan National Executive Committee member Elisa Tita Lubi.

 

“They are women who stand for truth and call for just peace. On top of that, they are mothers, sisters and daughters who now fear for the safety of their families because of the petition filed by the Justice Department of the Philippines declaring them as terrorists,” JASS said. 

 

READ: Int'l group condemns Philippine bid to label rights defenders as terrorists

 

Last month, the DOJ sought to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, as terror bodies under the Human Security Act of 2007. This came months after Duterte signed a proclamation tagging CPP and NPA as terrorist groups.

 

Under the law, the Anti-Terrorism Council can order the arrest of suspected terrorists even without a warrant.

 

Duterte had repeatedly accused groups identified with the national democratic movement of being communist fronts. Activists said that the president’s "red-tagging" of individuals and organizations put their lives at risk.