CREATE THE CONDITIONS FOR JUST AND LASTING PEACE! PAVE THE WAY FOR A PRO-PEOPLE GRP-NDFP PEACE TALKS!
We, the Asia Pacific Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (APCHRP), warmly welcome the Oslo Joint Statement mutually signed by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) on November 23, 2023, which signals the possible resumption of peace negotiations between the two co-belligerent parties.
In line with this crucial development for human rights, we are hopeful that the resumption of formal talks between the GRP and NDFP will create the conditions for just and lasting peace in the Philippines. This arduous task upon the recognition of the deep roots of the armed conflict—massive landlessness, foreign domination and imperialist plunder, and government corruption and state terrorism—and the mutual commitment to brokering and honoring comprehensive agreements concerning crucial reforms on socio-economic and political matters.
However, some barriers to the peace process must be immediately addressed by the Marcos Jr. administration to ensure its commitment to peace. First, political prisoners in the country numbering to at least 800, many of whom are sick and elderly, women and mothers, and even NDFP peace consultants, should be released. Second, safety and immunity guarantees for NDFP peace consultants should be recognized as we have seen to ensure their free and safe participation in the peace process. Third, as the Philippine government recognizes the legitimacy of the causes of the NDFP, it must remove the terrorist designation of the NDFP and its leaders and member organizations based on previous Anti-Terrorism Council resolutions. Lastly, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) should be abolished. These barriers should be resolved to give way to a committed peace negotiations.
We support the mutual understanding underlined in the Oslo Joint Communique and hope that this will pave the way for a peaceful resolution of the armed conflict. We also call on both parties to reflect upon past agreements such as the Comprehensive Agreement for the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), Joint Agreement on the Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), and the 1992 Hague Joint Declaration and infuse the great lessons of these documents and previous experiences to facilitate a successful GRP-NDFP peace negotiations with the best interests of the Filipino people and the country in mind.
As the social, economic, and political crises aggravate the underdevelopment and poverty of the country and the people, the GRP-NDFP joint statement is a positive step towards resuming the peace negotiation that could address the root causes of armed conflict in the country. If such a joint statement is to be followed APCHRP believes that it will have positive impacts on the human rights situation in the country after six years that the peace negotiations were stalled. Therefore, Marcos Jr. government’s should substantiate the said declaration by creating conditions favourable for peace negotiation to resume between GRP-NDFP peace panels.
