HUMANITY AMIDST CONFLICTS 54 becausethe military would makejustifications like and necessary mechanisms to ensure full “war has no bounds”. monitoring bothat the national andlocal levels. With this, they urged that IHL should have a Fourth — RemoveRestrictions to the Media provision on due respect of the IPs’ ancestral By removingrestrictions to the media, the real domain. situations in the armed conflict areas will be reported to the public, specifically in Mindanao. There were times when deaths in war zones were Recommendations: not reported due to the absence of media. First - Ratification of the RomeStatute Movements of media should notbe restricted in Since the armed conflict is a continuing conflict,it times of armedconflict. is also among the concerns of the International Criminal Court (ICC). After exhausting all the Fifth — The Role of the Civil Society remediesavailable from the localcourts, it should Organizations be brought also to the ICC. However, there is a Defenders problem because the Philippines has not yet The Civil Society Organizations and the human ratified the Rome Statute notwithstanding the rights defenders should be active and should not existence of armedconflict for along time already. be restricted of their movements. She informed Thus, those cases of violations on IHL could not the group of her experience, that they have been be filed even in our local courts because there is witnessing food blockade wherein the service no law yet on theratification of RomeStatute. providers had difficulties in delivering food and and Human Rights other supplies to the armed conflict areas. Second — Assessmentof the THL compliance Sixth — Respect for the Rights of Women The government andother warring parties must and Children review their compliance and observance of the Highlighted also is the respect for the rights of signed IHL obligations. It was noted that women and children in the conflict area and apparently, more violations were committed by territorial areas of Visiting Forces Agreement the military and police. On the other hand, there (VFA). As reported, they came up with a research are also violations by other state actors and non- on thesituation of women in theseconflict areas. state actors like the NPA. Thus,it is recommended It was also reported that there were so many that the government and non-state actors should womenwho were molested and impregnated and assess on how they comply with the IHL then eventually left by these soldiers of the VFA. obligation. On the other hand, the IPs must empower Third - Monitoring of IHL Compliance themselves continuously. Empowered IP Anotherproposal is to undertake intensive and communities could get more attention on their comprehensive monitoring of IHL compliance demandsfor support and respect as comparedto during andafter conflict. those who are not empowered.Theyare left behind In relation to this, a monitoring team should be created, with adequate becausetheirvoices are not being heard.