In Sulu, human rights work starts with letting the people know

ZAMBOANGA CITY—It struck Jocelyn Basaluddin, a volunteer working among families displaced by violence in Sulu, that many of them had no idea what their human rights are.

“Many of them knew nothing about their rights. So I started teaching them basic human rights through casual conversations,” Basaluddin said. The 39-year-old mother started sharing what she had learned from years of working with nongovernment organizations as a volunteer relief worker and from journalists she met.

While going around villages, Basaluddin was able to establish a network of contacts. She made sure to send them cell phone text messages every day.

Whatever possible complaints of human rights abuses she received were forwarded to the Mindanao Human Rights Action Center (Minhrac) based in Cotabato City. Minhrac later tapped her as a human rights grassroots monitor.

Community-based

Today, Basaluddin’s network has grown to 49 village-based monitors—students, drivers and even ordinary housewives—in Sulu’s 19 towns. Among their biggest contribution was the filing of human rights violations against several government personalities, including soldiers, at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

In Basilan, 25-year-old Radzmie Hanapi, a criminology graduate, said he had had enough of abuses. “I was doing volunteer work for NGOs and saw some of the abuses myself,” he said.

Hanapi cited the case of people in Yakan communities being deprived of their rights to shelter and abode in the aftermath of the 2007 clashes in Al-Barka, which resulted in the killings of 14 Marine soldiers.

This strengthened his resolve to teach people their rights, even though he was not receiving any remuneration and was courting risks, especially from violators themselves.

Basaluddin saw as very important the presence of a grassroots monitor. “The military can always restrict entry into affected areas and outside monitors would have a hard time knowing what’s happening inside. In this case, the presence of a grassroots monitor is really helpful,” she said.

Difficulties

Hanapi said the far distance of the villages from the town centers was among the other difficulties monitors were facing. “If there are grassroots monitors there, reports on particular incidents can immediately be sent out,” he said.

Lawyer Zainuddin Malang, the Minhrac executive director, said grassroots monitors in Sulu and Basilan had been helping human rights groups advance the protection of individual rights in the two provinces.

“We can’t monitor and handle everything from the outside, that’s why we need them. We also need to educate the people and we are very thankful to our grassroots monitors for doing this,” he said.

Malang acknowledged that monitors were also facing danger in carrying out their tasks in the communities. This was the same reason Minhrac partnered with the CHR and other organizations, including state security forces, he said.

Edilwasif Badiri, commissioner of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, said the increasing awareness about human rights among villagers in Sulu and Basilan was also helping to protect the monitors.

“Because they are part of the community and I know the community people will also strive to protect them from harm,” he said.