No to drones in Davao, in Mindanao, in the Philippines and elsewhere “We abhor instruments Of Death”— Pope Francis We, women religious in Mindanao join Davao City’s civilian leadership, in saying NO TO THE U.S DRONE PROGRAM and NO TO U.S MILITARY BASING in general. Our voice is to speak for women and children of Mindanao who will be most vulnerable to U.S militarism in the region. Drone strikes have killed as many as 3,549 people, 197 of these were children— in Pakistan alone. This is the fundamental moral issue why the drone program must be rejected— drones act as prosecutor, judge and executioner— on behalf of a U.S president and military situated thousands of miles away from its target. The U.S drone program is a mockery of international humanitarian law because it does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in times of armed conflict. In fact, the U.S stands as the number one violator of Human Rights (HR) and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) agreements. We in SAMIN are therefore opposed to this new form of idolatry— the idol worship of instrument of death at the expense of people’s lives, lands, and human rights. We reject the U.S Empire as the calf that demands the world’s absolute obedience. We call for the abrogation of the U.S-RP Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT). We uphold the words of Pope Francis to oppose the instruments of death in our times. Sr. Noemi P. Degala, SMSM SAMIN-Executive Secretary Source: networkedblogs/O6PdS By Contributed Article on August 14 2013 7:19 am
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 01:06:05 +0000
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