Philippine News Digest 63
Week: October 03 - 24, 2003
Contents:
172 child rebels captured
26.5M Filipinos living below poverty line
UN to hear alternative report on human rights situation in the Philippines
172 child
rebels captured
Government troops have captured 172 children- 122 boys and 50
girls- recruited by the
communist insurgents as combatants, courier guides, medics or spies in the
past six years, according to official statement from the military. Citing
statements from the New People's Army openly boasting “more and more
youth join the revolutionary movement,” the statement says the NPA is
violating conventions on child soldiers. The captured children are turned
over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development. Source:
Agence France Press report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 9 October
2003.
26.5M
Filipinos living below poverty line
An estimated 26.5 million Filipinos comprising 4.3 million
families, about 34 percent of the population, are living below the poverty
line, according to the latest poverty report by the National Statistics
and Coordination Board (NSCB). This is a 10-percent increase in the number
of the country's poor population compared to 1997 when an estimated 24
million Filipinos comprising about 4 million families were living below
the poverty line. A Filipino was considered poor if he didn't have the
means to satisfy his annual basic food and basic needs estimated to cost
about P11,605 (roughly US $211) in 2000. Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, 3 October 2003.
UN to hear
alternative report on human
rights situation in the Philippines
It is now the turn of non-government organizations (NGOs) to present their assessment of the situation of human rights in the Philippines after the government submitted its report earlier. The United Nations Committee on Human Rights (UNCHR) based in Geneva, Switzerland will hear on October 20 to 21 the alternative reports by three non-government organizations in the Philippines namely PREDA Foundation, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines and WEDPRO. PREDA Foundation, represented by Fr. Shay Cullen, will present the report on the violations of children's rights; WEDPRO that on women's rights; and TFDP, on the general situation of human rights in the country. Source: Internet News Network
Fast Links