Duterte’s threat of airstrikes on schools would be a ‘war crime’

Human rights watchdog urges Philippine president to retract threat to nation’s tribal areas

MANILA, PHILIPPINES— Human rights groups asked the Philippine president on Wednesday to retract a threat of airstrikes against tribal schools he accused of teaching students to become communist rebels, warning that such attacks would constitute war crimes.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said international humanitarian law “prohibits attacks on schools and other civilian structures unless they are being used for military purposes,” adding that deliberate attacks on civilians, including students and teachers, “is also a war crime.”

Left-wing Rep. Emmi de Jesus of the Gabriela Women’s Party asked Duterte to retract the threat, saying government troops may use it as a pretext to attack Indigenous, or Lumad, schools and communities in the country’s south which have come under threat from pro-military militias in recent years.

Angered by recent communist rebel attacks on government forces, including a gun battle last week that wounded five members of his elite presidential guards, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has called off peace talks with the Maoist guerril- las and threatened their perceived sympathizers.

In a news conference late Monday after his annual state of the nation address, Duterte condemned the insurgents for destroying bridges and torching schools in the countryside. But he said the rebels were sparing Lumad schools, which he alleged were operating under guerrilla control without government permits.

“Get out of there, I’m telling the Lumads now. I’ll have those bombed, including your structures,” Duterte said. “I will use the armed forces, the Philippine air force. I’ll really have those bombed . . . because you are operating illegally and you are teaching the children to rebel against government.” Carlos Conde of Human Rights Watch said Duterte, by calling for an attack on schools, “is directing the military to commit war crimes.”

Conde urged Duterte to sign a 2015 international political statement, the Safe Schools Declaration, that commits governments to supporting the protection of students, teachers and schools in times of armed conflict. There are about 200 Lumad schools in the south with about 4,000 students and 88 teachers.

Save Our Schools Network, a nongovernment group advocating children’s right to education, said there have been at least 68 military attacks affecting 89 Lumad schools since last July.