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An Urgent Appeal for the European Council to Continue Supporting the GRP-NDFP Peace Talks and to Remove the NPA and Prof. Jose Maria Sison from the EU’s List of ‘Terrorists’

We are advocates of just and lasting peace in the Philippines.

For the past ten years, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) have been engaged in peace negotiations, providing a ray of hope to our people that someday, genuine peace would reign in our land.

We deeply appreciate the support the European Union (EU) had given the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations, as expressed in European Parliament resolutions (EP Resolutions No. B4-0601, 0645 and 0686/97 and EP Resolution No. BP-1096, 1106, 1158 and 1160/98).

We note that the July 17, 1997 EP Resolution strongly endorsed the “formal peace negotiations between the two parties within the framework of The Hague Joint Declaration bilaterally forged by them on 1 September 1992.”

Despite difficulties, obstacles and impasses, the peace talks have achieved significant gains like the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), which both panels and their principals have signed. The CARHRIHL is a landmark document that could help humanize the war.

However the formal peace talks have bogged down since June 2001 and have not resumed since. We have thus strongly urged both parties to immediately return to the negotiating table and resume formal talks on socio-economic reforms and the implementation of the CARHRIHL.

We firmly believe that the Filipino people will benefit greatly from the resumption and continuation of these formal talks, especially as they address the root causes of the armed conflict. Moreover, the implementation by both parties of the CARHRIHL could immediately mitigate the suffering and destruction wrought by the continuing war.

We believe, further, that there can be no genuine peace without justice and without upholding human rights regardless of color, creed, sex, political beliefs and social standing.

It is in this light that we view with grave concern the inclusion of the New People’s Army (NPA) and Prof. Jose Maria Sison in the October 28, 2002 listing of terrorists by the European Council. We fear that this will further undermine the peace process, which is already in a perilous situation, and would lead to the further escalation of the armed conflict.

The NPA is one of the major organizations of the NDFP, while Prof. Sison is the chief political consultant of the NDFP and has played a key and positive role in the peace negotiations. Listing them as “terrorists” stigmatizes and puts them on the same level as criminals. We are concerned that this would irreparably impair the atmosphere and make it untenable for the GRP and NDFP to resume negotiations on the basis of The Hague Joint Declaration of 1992.

We therefore appeal to the EU member states to uphold the EP Resolutions and continue to be a positive force in realizing a just and lasting peace in the Philippines. We urge the European Council to reconsider its inclusion of the NPA and Prof. Sison in its list of terrorists in order to rebuild confidence and restore a favorable atmosphere for the resumption of the formal peace talks, and to uphold Prof. Sison’s human rights and his rights as a recognized political refugee.

We ask that a review of the EU’s listing of the NPA and Prof. Sison as terrorists be made on the basis of the UN Charter, pertinent UN General Assembly Resolutions, and Protocols additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions that distinguish between terrorists and those who are fighting for the right to self-determination, human rights, genuine democracy and social justice.

We call on the governments of The Netherlands, Belgium and other EU member states to support the immediate resumption of GRP-NDFP peace talks, and to uphold the rights of Prof. Sison as a political refugee in accordance with International Law and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.