Human Rights as a Foundation for Just and Lasting Peace

(June 25 - July 7, 2006)
By Serafin A. Arviola Jr.

Serafin A. Arviola Jr.

The promotion and protection of human rights in all its forms and manifestations are the foundation of a just and lasting peace in the world today. With the looming crisis between Israel and the terrorist group Hezbollah affecting almost every country in the Middle East in particular and the prices of crude oil in general, the defense of basic human rights as stated in international human rights standard is necessary. The beginning of the 21st century is marked by a continued presence of conflicts at almost every level of human endeavor. Conflicts among family members, among different groups in the community, and among nations continue to escalate, threatening the survival of the human species. According to the Armed Conflict report as cited by John Paul Lederach (1997), between 1989 and 1996, there were more than 70 wars happening in 60 different places around the world. As of January 2005, 44 conflicts continue to devastate 39 countries. Other disturbing figures indicate that half of the current wars have caused severe human suffering for almost a decade, and one-quarter of them for more than two decades.

The Philippines is not an exception to these atrocious realities. Since the 70s, there has been continued lawlessness and violence in cities and countryside brought about by intensified and continued government assaults against the rebel groups. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), New People's Army (NPA), and the terrorist group Abu Sayaff, have killed 120,000 people and displaced 1.5 million from their place of origin (Neufeldt et al, 2000:3). Mindanao has experienced one of the most violent armed conflicts in the history of the Philippines. A series of armed confrontations between the government and various Muslim separatist groups like Mindanao Independence Movement (MIM), Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have placed the civilian population at the mercy of conflicting parties.

The Liberal Gummersbach Declaration of Human Rights clearly states that “the respect for human rights is an essential precondition to the maintenance of peace and security,” it calls for states to protect its citizens both in war and peacetime within the framework of the rule of law. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in her 2006 State of the Nation Address condemned political killings and encouraged witnesses to come forward to stop extrajudicial execution. She also put a lot of government resources into war-ravaged Mindanao, as one of the “super regions,” to jump start economic development in areas where insurgencies and armed groups were actively involved.

The “Human Rights and Liberalism” seminar in Gummersbach, Germany sponsored by International Academy for Leadership of the Friedrich Naumann Foundations became a platform of debate on human rights implementation around the world for all 25 participants coming from 14 countries.

I was a human rights activist since my college days and passionate in resolving politically motivated violence brought about by armed conflicts. I would shout a lot of anti-American slogans on the historic streets of Mendiola and Roxas Boulevard near the American Embassy and in front of the Senate Building. I was a "champion of the oppressed," joining demonstrations on a wide variety of issues from wage increases to oil price reduction to the miserable plight of overseas Filipino workers to protests against globalization and free trade. My concept of human rights then up until my trip to Germany was not within the framework of the free market. I thought that human rights could never be promoted by a capitalist system; it would be violated instead because of profit. Money was the source of all evils.

I was in a reflective mood during the first three days in Gummersbach very silently confronting my self and questioning the human rights paradigms I learned in the streets and from my readings of my favorite guerilla, Che Guevara. During the seminar, my attention was called by a participant from Honduras regarding the Che Guevara face prominently printed on my bag. I told myself, “I was not culturally sensitive! I was wearing a Che Guevara bag in a Liberal institution for three days already!” But it was a start of a constructive conversation regarding my biases against the free market. On the fifth day, I came to understand the importance of property rights in uplifting the status of women in society and in preventing violence against them. Cases presented in the working group regarding domestic violence in Africa literally broke my heart. I came to realize, although the reasons for the abuses committed against women have a cultural and social basis, very prominent also was the lack of freedom for women to own property.
Another working group that was very useful in my work here in the Philippines was the session on “Free Speech and Cartoons.” The timeline provided was very useful to fully understand the issues involved in the controversy. This made me realize that learners should be critically empowered about the situation and the course of action to take. This involved consciousness raising, deepening, action, and reflection or evaluation. Although all of these processes complement one another, each one is distinct and follows a non-traditional approach in teaching human rights concepts. I became very aware of the problems of human rights violation (consciousness-raising); I began to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the root causes of physical and structural violence that lead to human rights abuses (deepening). I began to get motivated to work for the most suitable solution through concrete projects and activities (action), and I review the process to see if it achieved the desired results or outcome (reflection or evaluation). This experience proposes that teaching human rights is not an end in itself but a means to achieve a peaceful individual, classroom, school, community and society. The strategies employed during the seminar were consistent with Paolo Friere’s proposition in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

Being a teacher I was very observant in the strategies employed in the seminar, I learned a lot during the almost 10 days training in Gummersbach. Teaching human rights should encourage greater participation among the students in the learning process. Continuous consultations, dialogue and consensus building were effective in motivating the participants, who come from diverse backgrounds, to participate in various seminar activities. A high degree of observance to democratic process in decision-making and sharing of leadership responsibilities in the implementation of assigned learning tasks or assignments gave an assurance that every individual in the seminar was an important actor in the whole gamut of educational experiences. The right to exist, freedom of speech, expression, belief and worship were not only taught from a “one-way passive” method but became concrete by employing these participatory approaches in teaching.

The “Human Rights and Liberalism” seminar gave me a fresh look at human rights pedagogy and concepts to be implemented in the Philippines. It is a commitment more than a process of transferring knowledge and skills. It calls for a personal transformation of shifting old-aged paradigms regarding myths in teaching human rights. While many seasoned teachers believed that teaching civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights founded on internationally accepted human rights obligations is in the arena of a liberal arts disciplines, classroom experiences revealed otherwise. I have been teaching for 10 years now, right from the very start, I was trained by my alma mater (Philippine Normal University) to always be an agent of social transformation. My rigorous training and experiences with human rights organizations (UNESCO Club, Amnesty International etc) way back in my college days impressed upon me that to be a vehicle of change in a society beset with problems of material and moral degradation, a strong commitment to upholding human rights must be pursued at the classroom level. The “Human Rights and Liberalism” seminar put everything in the right perspectives. Liberal values such as freedom, rule of law and property rights encourage human rights, and thereby ensure a just and lasting peace in the country.