Such quick labeling has proved dangerous for children in the Philippines where there is a culture of impunity in committing human rights violations, Ma. Esmeralda Macaspac, executive director of CRC, told Bulatlat. If children in conflict areas are “child combatants,” it follows that they could likewise be subjected to “legitimate military operations.” In the Philippines, this includes indiscriminate strafing and zoning operations coupled with house-to-house and school-to-school witch-hunting.

Some of the publicized cases are that of nine-year old Grecil Buya and other children who were killed when their families were fired at as they were accused of harboring or being NPAs themselves. Many of the children who were killed died in military attacks in Moro communities. The ARMM has the most number of children killed, said CRC, followed by Bicol, SMR, CL, ST, Zamboanga and Eastern Visayas.

There is the case of a three-year-old ‘NPA guerilla’ who was made to spend three days in a military camp with her mother, who in turn had been seized by the military in the course of their house-to-house search for NPAs in Negros. As of June 2010 CRC estimated “very conservatively” that some 128,542 children had been affected by forced evacuation, and there were at least 77 cases / victims of illegal detention. Although child rights advocates have not yet consolidated the figures on cases under Aquino, things are far from rosy since Aquino has merely continued the same counter-insurgency plan put in effect by his predecessor.

Some minors labeled as “child combatants” and allegedly “captured” had been presented to the media while the AFP hurled accusations at the NPAs for allegedly recruiting child combatants. Yet, based on separate investigations done by CRC, Salinlahi, Karapatan or Gabriela in provinces where these minors came from, the supposed child combatants turned out to be “minors who were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The NPA has repeatedly denied ever recruiting child combatants, and has railed at the government for barring their invitations to international observers to see for themselves the NPA recruitment and operation.

Meanwhile, last September, the NPA reportedly captured a military-trained CAFGU who was a minor at that time. In a statement sent to the media, the NPA said the ‘capture’ of an AFP child combatant shows that it is in fact the AFP who has been “systematically” recruiting, training and using child soldiers in counter-insurgency operations.

Questioning the Military Use of DSWD in “Rehabilitating” Children and In Counter-Insurgency

Given the AFP’s way of “adapting” the Paris Principle in their combat operations, the CRC lamented that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is “wittingly or unwittingly being used” in counter-insurgency operations. The DSWD has had a big role in taking care of children in areas of conflict after the RA 7610, a law on the special protection of children, was enacted in 1996.

This role appears to have been expanded after the Paris Principle was crafted, when the military entered into an agreement with government agencies including the DSWD to immediately bring to DSWD custody the children taken by the AFP from battle zones. The DSWD, for its part, is expected to care for and “rehabilitate” the children.

Experiences documented by CRC, Karapatan and Gabriela chapters in provinces, however, pointed to the DSWD turning into some sort of a detention facility for alleged child combatants. And sometimes, the CRC added, as a sort of a “deodorizer for the AFP.” According to the CRC, they have documented cases where soldiers took children into their custody, bring them to military camps, and either release them later or transfer them to DSWD only when public opinion or the children’s relatives strongly prodded them to. In Eastern Visayas, a teenage girl was held by DSWD for about three years before she was freed; another was held for more than a year.

There were cases when rights defenders had to search for a detained child who was supposed to have been in the hands of the DSWD already, only to find that he or she was still with the military all along. There were cases when the DSWD did not know they were supposed to be already in custody of certain child combatants.

A curious case which the CRC and Karapatan in Cebu raised to the public was the military’s use of children whose parents are suspected of being communist rebels. In Cebu, an eight-year-old girl, “Nena,” was reportedly seized by the military from her school in one of the military’s school-to-school hopping last year. Nena was supposedly brought to the DSWD but in truth, she was held in a military safehouse and retrieved there by the DSWD at the prodding of Karapatan-Cebu and some reporters who accompanied the DSWD to the safehouse.

Nena was in DSWD custody for nearly a year. Although her relatives kept coming to get her, the DSWD and the military reportedly insisted it should be her parents who must come and get her. In other cases of children’s detention at DSWD, such as the three-year detention of a 15-year old girl in Eastern Visayas, and the more than a year’s detention of another teener in the same region, the DSWD had reportedly insisted on ensuring the relatives who would take custody are “capable of supporting the youth” based on some DSWD standards.

And what exactly is the content of their “rehabilitation program”? child rights advocates asked. In Nena’s case for instance, they noted that some soldiers were within sight and an M16 rifle was even on the table near Nena, while she was taking an examination test that her teacher from the school where she was seized by the military had brought to her.

Make it Real, Child Protection

Child rights advocates called on their international peers to put in place safeguards so that the international guiding principles crafted to protect children are not being used for the opposite ends. “It should reflect the actual condition in a given country,” said Macaspac.

As for the DSWD, “they should guard against being used as a tool in further attacking the rights of the child,” continued Macaspac. If they have proven the innocence of the minor in their custody, they should not deprive them of their freedom any longer, the CRC said. The DSWD is expected to help the child and promote his or her best interest. “If the DSWD finds out that the AFP has been attacking children, the DSWD should immediately call attention to it, instead of add to or compound the said attacks.” (Bulatlat.com)

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