UP Prof & Team filed complain to United Nations for Malaysian Human Rights abuses to Filipinos

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay and UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 

Malaysia to face UN over Sabah Filipino abuses claims

Outraged Philippine civil society groups have filed human rights violations complaints against Malaysia to the United Nations over serious allegations by returning Filipinos fleeing the month-long armed conflict raging in Sabah's restive east coast, the Manila Times reported.

The Philippine newspaper reported concerned groups and individuals had lodged reports yesterday with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay (picture), and UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, who are both based in Geneva, Switzerland, after failing to move the Aquino administration to exert pressure on Putrajaya.

The activists were reported to have petitioned the two UN agencies to "urgently intervene so that Malaysia will respect the human rights of the Filipinos in Sabah, recognised under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Among the signatories named by the daily were the Concerned Citizens Movement, CenterLaw, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, and Anakbayan. Individuals who signed the letter included Philippine human rights lawyer Harry Roque, activist nun Sister Mary John Mananzan, whistleblower Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada, journalist Vergel Santos, and political strategist Pastor "Boy" Saycon, who serves as adviser to Jamalul Kiram III, one of the heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu.

The campaigners also asked the two UN bodies "to express grave concern on the massive and gross human rights violations by Malaysia against Filipinos in Sabah" and to remind Malaysia to "provide effective remedies and compensation to the Filipino victims of the massive and gross human rights violations committed against them by Malaysian state agents", according to the daily.

Citing the activists, the paper reported Malaysia's authorities had violated numerous provisions in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights on protection against discrimination, life, liberty, security, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary arrest, detention or exile, and right to a fair trial.

The activists were reported to have penned two 11-page letters citing media reports, particularly from the widely-read The Philippine Daily Inquirer, detailing the maltreatment of Filipinos in Sabah starting from February 14 when "suspected Filipino gunmen numbering between 80 and 100 were cornered in Sabah on Borneo Island, triggering the start of the Sabah standoff."

The Philippine media have been highlighting the growing restlessness among Filipinos at Malaysia's heavy-handed handling of the Sabah conflict, despite having previously assured it would practise "maximum tolerance" while Manila continues talks with the Kiram clan, a marginalised Muslim faction claiming to be heirs of the 17th-century Sulu sultanate who had been left out of peace negotiations brokered by Putrajaya last year.

Some 5,000 Filipinos have returned to their homeland with tales of human rights abuses that have enraged fellow Philippine citizens and lawmakers since the Sabah crisis began on February, triggered by Sulu rebel leader Agbimuddin Kiram's invasion of the north Borneo state which has been under Malaysian rule for the past 50 years since 1963.

Fierce gunfights have claimed the lives of 62 Sulu militants, eight Malaysian policemen and two soldiers.

Civilians of unknown nationalities have also been reported killed in clashes, caught between the Malaysian security forces hunting down the foreign intruders and spurred thousands of Filipinos to flee Sabah for their homeland out of fear of capture.

The Philippine Senate has demanded its government hold Malaysia accountable for the possible human rights violations on the 800,000-strong Filipino migrant community in Sabah at the hands of local authorities searching for a ragtag band of Sulu militants claiming ownership of the north Borneo state.

The volatile situation in Sabah appears to be election fodder with both the Philippines and Malaysia readying for national polls this year.

With Report From Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Times, Malaya and Malaysian Insider