What’s a U.S. Peace Center Doing in the Philippines?

The International Center for Transitional Justice – reported to have held talks with the Philippine government on a project to end the strife spawned by the martial law era and the three Edsa uprisings – appears not so neutral. A look into its connections provides a clearer picture on what “conflict resolution” it should be expected to provide the Philippines.  

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

ABC-5’s early-evening news program Sentro recently broadcast a report by “The Probe Team Minute” that the Philippine government has coordinated with the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) in connection with how to end the strife spawned by the martial law period (1972-1986) and the three Edsa uprisings.

The first Edsa uprising of February 1986 was a people's revolt against the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, who was president for 20 years beginning 1966. The second was the ouster of the Joseph Estrada administration in January 2001, largely because of  plunder and corruption, while the third was a failed attempt in May that same year to bring back the Estrada presidency.

The Probe Team report did not say much, however. The report included a brief interview with ICTJ vice president Ian Martin, who is now in the Philippines. But Martin did not explain what exactly the ICTJ is planning to do in the Philippines. In wasn’t clear either on how the Philippine government had come into contact with the ICTJ.

After serving as secretary general of Amnesty International from 1986-1992, Martin worked as a human rights official in Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina and in East Timor where he headed the UN Mission in 1999. But he is also connected to the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment. He has been with ICTJ since 2002.

UNSC June Conference

Considering the magnitude and the sensitivity of its mission in cooperation with the Philippine government, the ICTJ has maintained a very low profile. There has been no report on its activity aside from that of “The Probe Team Minute.”

But it appears that the Philippine government and the ICTJ have been in contact at least since last June.

On June 22, Lauro Baja, the Philippines’ permanent representative to the United Nations, acting as president of the Security Council for June, initiated a conference on “The Role of Civil Society in Post-Conflict Peace Building” in New York. Martin, together with Denis Caillaux of CARE International, spoke at the conference.

An ICTJ statement released during the conference read: “One of the most fundamental challenges of post-conflict peace-building is to confront the past while building a just foundation for the future. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, and in our work, the ICTJ has learned a crucial lesson: whatever the answers are, they must emerge from-or resonate within-civil society.

“Strategies to address past abuses generally include criminal prosecutions of perpetrators of serious crimes; truth commissions; reparations packages, including, but not limited to, financial compensation, and efforts to honor the memory of victims; rigorous analysis of institutional culpability and efforts to reform institutions, including vetting of personnel; and reintegration and reconciliation initiatives.”

The ICTJ's website describes it as an organization that "assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse."

“The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict,” the description goes on, “as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved. It provides comparative information, legal and policy analysis, documentation, and strategic research to justice and truth-seeking institutions, nongovernmental organizations, governments and others.”

Nothing really new

With such a “job description,” among the things the ICTJ may be expected to do is to get involved in the peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), as well as that between the GRP and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

In that case it would not be doing anything really new.

As early as last February, Bulatlat had learned that a U.S.-based foundation, the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue (CHD), was trying to take part in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.

The Norwegian government, which is hosting the GRP-NDFP talks, had reportedly endorsed the CHD as an “international observer.”  But the NDFP panel politely rejected the Norwegian government’s proposal, saying the CHD cannot really be considered a neutral entity.

Sitting as adviser to the CHD is retired U.S. Marine commander Anthony Zinni, a veteran of many U.S. military campaigns. He is also an adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Council on Foreign Relations, both right-wing “think tanks” based in the United States.

Zinni also serves as an adviser to the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), a federal institution created by the U.S. Congress “to promote the prevention, management, and peaceful resolution of international conflicts.” It receives a regular budget from the U.S. government, and its board of directors is appointed by the U.S. president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The USIP is currently involved in the GRP-MILF peace talks. The talks are brokered by the Malaysian government.

The CHD, through its advisers led by Zinni, was also involved in the peace talks between the Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement in 2000. They used the dialogue intervention to set up “peace” zones, or areas where Free Aceh guerrillas were asked to surrender.

The NDFP and the MILF both played very important parts in the people’s resistance against the Marcos dictatorship.

The ICTJ may also be expected to set up a truth commission to write down the history of the martial-law period.

Connections

A look into ICTJ’s connections may provide a clearer picture on what conflict resolution it should be expected to provide the Philippines.

Although its staff and board of directors include former political detainees like its president Juan Mendez, as well as known international human rights workers, they also count personalities with connections that are quite interesting, to say the least.

Its executive assistant to the president, Lorraine Belgrave, worked with Ford Foundation before joining the center. According to internationally-known sociologist James Petras, the Ford Foundation has long been financing cultural projects of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He has even written of personnel exchanges between the two entities.

The CIA is historically known for having supported authoritarian governments, including the Marcos dictatorship.

David Hamburg, a member of the ICTJ board of directors, is president emeritus of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, where he served as president from 1993 to 1997.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York is affiliated with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which advocates world leadership for the U.S. Its explanation for its U.S. Leadership Project hints at calling for interventionist thrusts.

Donald McHenry, another member of the ICTJ Board of Directors, is also a fellow of the American Academy of Diplomacy (AAD).

The AAD counts among its members former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Stephen Bosworth, and Henry Kissinger - all known advocates of global interventionism. It has four members currently serving in the U.S. government: John Negroponte, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz who are all vocal proponents of the U.S. military drives in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The AAD receives funds from, among others, the USIP. Bulatlat

Sources:

1.     Roland G. Simbulan, The Bases of Our Insecurity (Second Edition), Quezon City: BALAI Fellowship, Inc., 1985

2.     Bobby Tuazon, Edberto Villegas, Jose Enrique Africa, Paul Quintos, Ramon Guillermo, Jayson Lamchek, and Edwin Licaros, Unmasking the War on Terror: U.S. Imperialist Hegemony and Crisis, Quezon City: Center for Anti-Imperialist Studies, 2002

3.     “Albert Brings Together Civil Society and UN Security Council in Historic First,” Department of Foreign Affairs press release, June 22, 2004 (http://www.dfa.gov.ph/news/pr/pr2004/jun/pr397.htm)

4.     http://www.un-ngls.org/cso/cso3/security2.html

5.     International Center for Transitional Justice, http://www.ictj.org/

6.     “U.S. Counter-Terrorist in the GRP-NDFP Talks,” Bulatlat, Feb. 8-14, 2004 (https://www.bulatlat.com/news/4-2/4-2-usmarine.html)

7.     U.S. Institute of Peace, http://www.usip.org/ 

8.     http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/FordFandCIA.html

9.     Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, http://www.ceip.org/

10.  The American Academy of Diplomacy, http://www.academyofdiplomacy.org/

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