ANNOUNCEMENTS
CARHRIHL on Its 12th Year
Anniversaries not only tell the passage of time but it is also a reflection on what has happened. March 16, 2010 marks the anniversary of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). On its 12th anniversary, Sulong CARHRIHL would like to put forward some questions that deserve some reflection: How has the CARHRIHL helped our cause? What had been done to ensure that the agreement and the laws that came after it does not remain in paper? What can we bring further than this agreement?
With these questions on the table, Sulong CAHRHIHL will commemorate this year’s anniversary with the theme “2010 Prospects for Peaceful Changes: Asserting the CARHRIHL and Humanitarian Agenda”.
Sulong CARHRIHL and its Network will hold a forum on March 16, 2010 to discuss the aspirations and challenges that CARHRIHL faces amidst the passing of the IHL Law and the Anti-Torture Act. The forum would also put forth the question: Amidst the changing times, what is the role of CARHRIHL and is there a new humanitarian agenda?
There will be an art exhibit to kick off the anniversary activities for this year. Sulong CARHRIHL will also hold a forum on March 16, 2010 on the current status of CARHRIHL and the network’s current efforts on peace and human rights awareness. The exhibit will run from March 16 to March 19, 2010 in UP Diliman in Quezon City and will showcase various groups of artists. The exhibit will have a wide array of collections of paintings, posters, reprints to installation art.
Interested participants may contact Mitzi Austero at 09175152135/7941231 or mitzi.SulongCARHRIHL@gmail.com for more details about the event.
Working Towards a Non-violent and Peaceful Elections 2010
Amidst the fear and chaos often brought about by violence during election season, Sulong CARHRIHL together with the Sulong CARHRIHL Youth Network and the IP Network will hold a series of forums. These series hopes to bring together in one venue the main concerns of the youth and Indigenous Peoples and provide a place where they discuss and call for a non-violent and peaceful election.
The series will be held in various schools and communities all over Luzon from March through April 2010. There will be an exhibit with the theme “Role of Arms in Elections” and will feature mixed media in showing how arms play a violent role in Philippine elections. Video clips, which covers the history of the right to vote, the laws that protect this right, the new Automated Election System and instructions on how to vote as well as other basic information pertinent to elections in the country, prepared by the Institute of Political and Electoral Reform will be shown during the series.
A forum will also be held to talk about current issues and concerns that are surrounding the elections as well as give brief lectures on voter’s education targeting the youth and IP especially the first time voters.
Alongside the forum and dialogues, there will be a signature campaign to support the call for a peaceful and non-violent 2010 elections. The signature campaign will be forwarded to candidates running for public office in an attempt to make them aware of the widespread call for peace and non-violence to be part of their platforms and their priority during these crucial times.
For more details about the forum series, you may contact Mitzi Austero at +639175152135 / +63 2 7941231 or mitzi.SulongCARHRIHL@gmail.com.
IP Area Clusters' General Assembly
Sulong CARHRIHL will hold consultations with IP partners in armed conflict affected communities in Mindanao, namely in Compostela Valley on March 1, 2010 and in Agusan del Sur on March 22, 2010. It will also hold a consultation in Kalinga in April of the same year.
Sulong CARHRIHL will also help facilitate the IPNet Cluster Assembly on the first and third week of March for the Pinatubo Cluster and the North Sierra Madre Cluster respectively.
For more details about the IP Consultations and Cluster Assembly, you may contact Wilson Requez or Wilbert Mercado at 09175152184/09175151670/ 7941231 or sulongnet@yahoo.com for more details.
