Key Points
ADVISORY ON
OVERSEAS FILIPINO
WORKERS ON
DEATHROW
[CHR (V) A2018-004]
Dated
October
CRIME
LR
When Toshi Kazama (third from left), a commercial photographer
turned human rights advocate, worked with CHR in its campaign
against the death penalty. Mr. Kazama has been photographing
victims on death
8, 2018
NOT
row, as well as their families, their friends, and
their executioners, for over twenty years. With him in this photo are
Nilda Sevilla of the Families of Victims of Involuntary
Disappearance, CHR Commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit, former
CHR Chairperson Etta Rosales, founder of the Coalition on the
Abolition of Death Penalty in ASEAN Rafendi Djamin, and ASEAN
Youth Forum'’s Ninian Sumadia.
(CHR Photo, August 14, 2017)
1. The advisory brings the Philippines’
attention to the plight of overseas Filipino
workers who are at risk of execution
abroad.
It highlights
their vulnerable
situation and lists reasons why foreign
nationals
are
disadvantaged
M
ND
B
CRIME,
NOT
LIFE
¥
abroad,
particularly in death penalty jurisdictions.
2. In 1986, the Philippines ratified the
International
Covenant
on
Civil
and
Political
Rights
(ICCPR)
and
the Second
Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. These
contain express provisions defending the
right
to
life
«and
precluding
the
reinstatement of the death penalty. Article 1
of the Second Optional Protocol prohibits
states from introducing the death penality.
"Tailbone
from the
Kazama,
executed
burning in the chair... eye pops out... liquid comes out
anus.." New York-based Japanese photographer, Toshi
demonstrating what happens to an inmate when
by electric chair.
("End Crime, Not Life Forum”, Ateneo de Manila University,
August 16, 2017)
3. This advisory complements the previous
advisories issued by the Commission to
advocate against the death penalty. It also
challenges the proposed legislation that
seeks to re-impose capital punishment.
4. The death penalty is a form of torture. It
contravenes the prohibition against torture
and
cruel,
inhuman
or
degrading
treatment. It is attended by significant
delay, poor prison conditions and extreme
mental distress.
When photographer Toshi Kazama met his first subject Michael, a
mentally handicapped sixteen-year-old, he expected to meet a
monster. "But it's completely different when you meet the person
face to face... | was told that to kill a human being you need three
to five bullets... Is there really such a thing as ‘humane way’ to kill
a human being?" asks Toshi Kazama.
("End Crime, Not Life Forum”, Ateneo de Manila University,
August 16, 2017)