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[MANILA, 29 March 2010] - A child rights group is set to file a complaint before the Commission on Human Rights against the military for the torture of three minors who the military accused of belonging to the New People’s Army (NPA).
Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns said they will bring the cases of Allen, 17, and 15-year-olds Ivy and Tere* before the human rights body. The group said it would also submit a report to the United Nations Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict and the European Union “to draw to the attention of national and international bodies the serious violations of children’s rights which continue to be carried out by the military.” The three children were arrested in separate incidents in Makilala, North Cotabato and Moncayo in Compostela Valley earlier this month and were tortured and forced to admit they were members of the NPA. They were released following the intervention of human rights groups, said Pia Garduce, spokesperson of Salinlahi. Results of the fact-finding mission led by Kabiba Alliance for Children’s Concerns, the counterpart to Salinlahi in Mindanao, revealed that Allen was arrested on March 15 in Makilala town and was forced to confess that he was one of those who fired at soldiers in Barangay (village) Balatukan. Garduce said that the military mistook Allen for the person they saw at the site of the incident because both were wearing an orange t-shirt. “The military tied the boy like a pig and poked a knife into his neck and struck him on his back with the rifle butt,” she said in a statement. Allen was later identified as a child labourer on a rubber plantation and was said to be on his way for lunch when accosted by the military. Ivy and Tere were allegedly arrested in separate encounters in North Cotabato and Compostela Valley and denounced as members of the communist armed wing. But based on their fact-finding report, Kabiba said that the two girls were actually among the 13 upland farmers arrested by members of the 25th Infantry Battalion on March 7. Garduce said the children were only brought before the court on March 11, in violation of Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice Welfare Law. “They were illegally detained for more than 36 hours and subjected to mental torture. The military even made up a story that one of the minors was pregnant,” Garduce said. Salinlahi expressed alarm about the continuing violation of children’s rights by labelling them child soldiers. “These children are facing the hardship of helping their parents to enhance their livelihood and yet, the military preys on them like vultures, seemingly just to meet their deadlines in crushing the insurgency problem.” Garduce said. The NPA group, the 4,702 strong military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been considered the biggest threat to the country’s national security... *Fictitious names used to protect the children's identity. Further information