Australia Targets P7-Million for RP ‘Rights’ Program

 The Australian government has targeted P7 million to the Philippines to boost its effort in promoting human rights as well in addressing human rights issues, particularly in strife-torn southern Philippines.

Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Rod Smith expressed his government’s continued assistance to Manila to intensify human rights promotion and protection in the country.

Canberra, a state party to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has been pushing for the consistent and comprehensive implementation of the declaration since 1950.

“The murder of civilians and journalists in Maguindanao late last year has heightened the focus on human rights issues in the Philippines. Australia will support initiatives that further promote and rebuild human rights awareness and protection in the country,” Smith said in a statement.

Canberra’s assistance will channeled for the establishment of the paralegal committees that would monitor human rights violations during armed conflict and for the implementation of human-rights related projects in the South.

The embassy said the project seeks for the creation of paralegal committees that are expected to provide human rights education and paralegal training that would help people living in conflict-stricken areas understand their basic rights as well as to boost the capacity of the authorities to conduct investigation and document human rights violations.

Apart from the establishment of the paralegal committees, the Australian government will also fund various projects through the Karapatan sa Malikhaing Paraan (KaSaMa), a multi-donor initiative that provides funding to civil society organizations to implement innovative human rights projects.