Clark urged to tackle Philippines president on human rights

Prime Minister Helen Clark is being urged to raise human rights abuses with the Philippines government during a meeting there this week.

President Gloria Arroyo declared an effective state of emergency last month, saying it was necessary to prevent a coup.

But activists, who have long protested against human rights abuses, poverty and the social and environmental costs of mining and logging projects, claim democracy in the country is under threat.

There are reports that one of the leading opposition figures, Crispin Beltran, has been arrested as part of the latest crackdown.

Professor Jane Kelsey, of Auckland University's law faculty, has written to Helen Clark asking her to "convey, publicly, to President Arroyo's representative the New Zealand government's condemnation of the state of emergency and the Philippine government's breach of its international human rights obligations".

Representatives of the Catholic Church in New Zealand have backed the call and have highlighted a wide range of alleged abuses in the country.

David Tutty, justice and peace worker for the church in Auckland, last week encouraged people to write to Helen Clark's office asking her to take up these issues with the Phillipines Government.

Mr Tutty hosted a meeting in Ponsonby on Friday night at which Audrey Beltran, a member of the Cordillera People's Alliance, showed documentaries on the plight of indigenous people in the Philippines.

The documentaries, which were also shown to Maori groups in Whangarei last week, outline severe health and environmental effects activists claim is caused by foreign companies with government support.

Ms Beltran asked people in New Zealand to sign a petition against corporate mining which will be circulated to coincide with mass demonstrations in the Philippines on Tuesday.

Green Party MP Keith Locke also wrote to Helen Clark last week. In his letter he stated: "I would like you to bring to the attention of the President and her government that New Zealand sees the repression as a setback for human rights and democracy in the Philippines, and in our region."

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said he was not aware of Professor Kelsey's letter or the wider calls for Helen Clark to raise the issues with President Arroyo.

However, he added: "As a general rule, the Prime Minister is concerned about human rights in a country and she raises those when she meets heads of state." He said she had done so, for example, with the Chinese leadership.

Helen Clark today arrives in the Philipines, where she will meet President Arroyo and attend the Asia-Pacific Regional Interfaith Dialogue.

Over the weekend she was in Chile for the inauguration of President Michelle Bachelet.