EU to provide RP with P270 m to resolve extrajudicial killings
10/09/2009 | 02:40 AM
The European Union (EU) on Thursday said it will provide the Philippines with P270 million to help resolve the country's long-festering problem of extrajudicial killings.
In a statement, Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines said the aid was in response to the country's request for technical assistance to address the problem.
The amount is expected to cover the cost of a program that will focus on strengthening the country's criminal justice system, providing support for the Commission on Human Rights and other civil society groups, and provide human rights awareness training for the police and military.
The money will be coursed through the Financing Agreement for the EU-Philippine Justice Support Program (EPJUST), which MacDonald and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita signed earlier Thursday.
The signing was witnessed by Spain Ambassador to the Philippines Luis Arias Romero of Spain, who represented the European Union, Philippine Ambassador to the European Council Cristina Ortega, and James Moran, director for Asia in the Directorate-General of External Relations, European Commission, in Brussels.
Through the program, the EU will help the government and non-government agencies to work hand in hand to put an end to extra-legal killings and enforced disappearances of political activists, journalists, trades unionists and farmer leaders.
It will likewise work on identifying the perpetrators of the said crimes.
“While the incidence of these killings has declined significantly since 2007, it is regrettable that there has yet been so few convictions in relation to the killings of political activists," MacDonald said.
EPJUST will likely start initial activities before end-2009 and is expected to be completed by March 2011. – GMANews.TV
In a statement, Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines said the aid was in response to the country's request for technical assistance to address the problem.
The amount is expected to cover the cost of a program that will focus on strengthening the country's criminal justice system, providing support for the Commission on Human Rights and other civil society groups, and provide human rights awareness training for the police and military.
The money will be coursed through the Financing Agreement for the EU-Philippine Justice Support Program (EPJUST), which MacDonald and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita signed earlier Thursday.
The signing was witnessed by Spain Ambassador to the Philippines Luis Arias Romero of Spain, who represented the European Union, Philippine Ambassador to the European Council Cristina Ortega, and James Moran, director for Asia in the Directorate-General of External Relations, European Commission, in Brussels.
Through the program, the EU will help the government and non-government agencies to work hand in hand to put an end to extra-legal killings and enforced disappearances of political activists, journalists, trades unionists and farmer leaders.
It will likewise work on identifying the perpetrators of the said crimes.
“While the incidence of these killings has declined significantly since 2007, it is regrettable that there has yet been so few convictions in relation to the killings of political activists," MacDonald said.
EPJUST will likely start initial activities before end-2009 and is expected to be completed by March 2011. – GMANews.TV
