HRW thumbs down SONA 2012 for ignoring human rights

Members of a religious group taking part in an anti-government protest try to protect a fellow protester as they clash with police not far from where Pres. Benigno Aquino III delivered his third State of the Nation Address on Monday. (photo by Ted Aljibe, AFP)

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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA, Philippines -- Human Rights Watch on Monday said President Benigno Aquino III “missed an important opportunity during his State of the Nation Address to highlight or even mention his administration’s proclaimed policy to hold state security forces accountable for human rights abuses.”

In a brief statement, Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW, noted that, “while President Aquino praised the military and the police and efforts to improve the country’s defense and law enforcement capabilities, he did not utter one word during his 90 minute speech about the many victims of abuses by these forces.”

He said this would lead human rights violators to the conclusion that “they have little to fear and that it will be business as usual in the years ahead.”

HRW said it has been urging Aquino “to communicate clearly to state security forces that his administration will hold accountable those who violate human rights,” but that, since he took office in 2010, “not one perpetrator has been successfully prosecuted even as the abuses continue.”

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