MANILA, Philippines - A militant human-rights group chided the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for continuing clashes in Mindanao even during Ramadan.

Karapatan called on both camps to stop hostilities and go back to the negotiating table despite the dissolution of the government peace panel by Malacañang.

MANILA, Philippines -- Women and children are most affected in the ongoing conflict in Mindanao as evacuation centers are lacking in facilities, adequate food, and medicines, and children continue to experience “psychological trauma,” a group said on Monday.

In the recent months, more than hundred families are being displaced from their homes because of the continuous military operations in their area. Families from rural communities from northern part of the country Abra to the southern part of Sulu are escaping the wrath of military operations conducted of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on areas perceived to be lair of communist insurgents or Moslem separatist. Read more »

A year has passed since the death of Grecil Buya and still, children who were victims of militarization are growing. Children's lives are endangered due to anti-children policies brazenly implemented by the government. This is according to Children's Rehabilitation Center (CRC), a child rights organization in Southern Mindanao. Read more »

Arangkadang-kadang ng mga bata at kababaihan laban sa magnanakaw sa Malacanang (Walkathon Against Corruption) - March 2, 2008; UP Diliman Oval, Quezon City.

Children-victims of human rights violations from different parts of the country trooped to the office of the Commission on Human Rights this morning to present their plight resulting from militarization of their communities. "They are seeking a precious gift this Christmas from the government - that is justice. And we hope that the government will not disappoint the children this time," said Ma. Read more »

The Children's Rehabilitation Center (CRC), a non-government organization helping children-victims of human rights violations; the Salinlahi Alliance for Children's Concerns, an umbrella organization of child welfare organizations nationwide and the Association for the Rights of Children in Southeast Asia (ARCSEA), an organization of child rights advocates join children-victims of human rights violations in bringing to your attention their appeal for concrete solutions to their plight, especially in the spirit of the coming holidays. Read more »

Wright or Rong – Children Speak Out Against Corruption - February 25, 2008; Bantayog ng mga Bayani grounds, Quezon City.

Colorful face-paint designs, hand-made Christmas cards and strings of crane origami festooned the school grounds of Kalantiaw Elementary School in Project 4, Quezon City. With delightful shrieks and cheerful smiles, around 100 children and child rights advocates gathered around not only to celebrate the Christmas season but more so to give these children-victims of human rights violation a quick respite from the pain they are undergoing or have gone through as victims of human rights violation.

MANILA, Philippines -- Surface the "the disappeared." Stop the abductions. Pull the military out of the villages.

These demands -- not toys -- were on the Christmas wish list of children whose parents had been abducted by the military or whose families had been displaced by government operations against communist rebels in the countryside.