Philippines: Alternative Report to the CAT 'Preventing torture by acting on its economic, social and cultural root causes'

Peaceful protests are seen as subversive by the Government and criminalised, and rural populations, under the guise of anti-subversive military operations, are prevented from growing their own food, their children are prevented from going to school and they are subjected to torture, ill-treatment, killings, disappearances and other serious human rights violations. The denial of economic, social and cultural rights weakens people to such an extent that the perpetrators of violence, by virtue of their positions of power over the victims, are able to commit such violence with impunity. This violence and lack of security, in turn, severely impede these people from escaping from poverty, of working in just and favourable conditions, of providing care and education to their children and enjoying an adequate standard of living and the highest attainable standard of health.