The New People’s Army is a Maoist communist faction in the Philippines that is in open rebellion against the Filipino government since 1969. The NPA has been attributing civilian deaths to their “people’s court” handing down ruling upon them as well as detaining several people for the same reason. The existence of the “people’s court” is not confirmed as a real body or a sham as of yet. The group is, as part of an intra-country conflict, required to follow the international humanitarian laws, such as the Geneva Convention that the Philippines have signed. Any violations of these can bring scrutiny from the international community. The most common violations have been murder of civilians and detaining individuals without fair trial. The NPA is currently under intense scrutiny due to their most recent civilian murder of Ramelito “Ramel” Gonzaga, accused of “crimes against the people.”
As for human rights violations, there are quite a few in this case. The right to life is violated by the unlawful killing of civilians for apparent “crimes against the people.” The right to a fair trial is not upheld in the least regardless of the apparent existence of the “people’s court” and their rulings. The right to security of self and right against violence to one’s self is obviously broken with the auxiliary causalities caused during these murders as well as the murders themselves. Another is the right to human treatment while detained or imprisoned, which to most people’s knowledge is not being given the prisoners of this group.
The problem with the NPA’s actions is that they are not a legal governmental body and thus have no authority to carry out death sentences against Filipino citizens or to detain them. I cannot fathom how this has been allowed to go on at all, let alone for forty years. The international community should have attempted to remedy the situation decades ago. No party or militant group has the right to target civilians, regardless of their intentions, especially when they are held to the standards of the Geneva Convention. Also, their court is not an official court that can sentence people and if the court does not first allow the person to argue their case then it is not a fair trial and thus void in the beginning. Overall, I do not believe that the NPA has any right to do what they have been doing for the past forty years and that it is a travesty that it has been allowed to continue so long.
Why has the NPA been ignored by the West? Is it okay for a group in open rebellion to target civilians? Should the “people’s court” be investigated on its existence?
I do not think it's the "West's" responsibility to address this situation. I think this is an issue which should be addressed by international organizations, such as the UN. The U.S. especially has its hands full- turning our economy back around, sending/giving aid to other countries, etc. (the lost goes on and on!) I agree that these peoples' rights are obviously being violated and some sort of justice should be sought as a result. Yet, the Philippine government is ultimately the bearer of responsibility. International organizations should pressure the Philippine government to make reforms and to change its laws with regard to the protection of its citizens' rights.
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