RTDI: PROCEEDINGS OF THE IHL ROL]NDTABLE DISCUSSION (Pre-summit) 14 August 2Ol2,Bahay Kalinaw, UP Diliman , Quezon City "Towards a Philippine Proliram of Action on Effecting International Humanitarian Law" BACKGROIIND AND OBJECTVES The RTD is a product of discussions among the co-organizers-fhe Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRC), the Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court (PCICC), and EO 143 Ad Hoc Committee-on their work on IHL in general, in commemoration of IHL day this year and the IOth anniversary of the International CriminalCourt. The RTD aims to: 1. Gather government agencies and nongovernmental and civil society organizations to a sharing on issues as they bear on the current 2. 3. IHL implementation; Come out with recommendations in pursuing effective measures to address challenges; and Initiate a process that will fulfill the recommendations of the IHL National Summit held on 12 August 2009 to create an action plan for IHL. domestic I egal framework fo r i nstitutio n alizing, mainstreaming and internalizing IHL in our consciousness as a people and as a nation through RA 9851. This, she said, is in furtherance of the Geneva Conventions to which the Philippines is a state party. In this respecf Chair Rosales underscored the need for communications mechanisms and transactional affangements nhich will provide immediate and strategic actions that are effectively responsive to the situation on the ground. She also underscored the importance of every government agency's active role in the implementation of the IHL law Thus, she said a program of action on effecting IHL is a vital tool in order to bring this about. In closing, Chair Rosales emphasized the importance of addressing social justice. She cited the case of IDPs and IPs in Mindanao where the root of internal conflict is the peoples' struggle for their ancestral domain. She said that the issue on ancestral domain must be addressed if we are to resolve internal conflict and that this should be part of the IHL program of action. WELCOME REMARKS CHR Chair Loretta Ann P. Rosales At the onset, Chair Rosales called on the participants to collectively work in putting an end to impunity and making human rights a way of life. She said this must senre as the vision of all stakeholders in developing a program of action on effecting IHL She said that the Philippines is one of the leading countries in fuia Pacific that legislated a ROUNDTABLT DISCUSSION BRIEF BACKGROLIND OF'THE RTD Usec. Severo Catura USec. Catura said the idea of holding an RTD on IHL came out in the course of the planning of activities for the IHL month celebration. In a meeting with the organizers represented by PCICC, CHR, PHRC and the AFP HRO, he said it was deemed important to have an assessment on the implementation of the IHL law.