The European Commission (EC) has signed an agreement with six NGOs in the Philippines to provide financial assistance to them for protecting the rights of Mindanao’s indigenous Filipinos. The organizations receiving the grants are Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (ASSIST), Buklod Center and Nagkakaisang Kababaihan, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), Institute for Social Studies and Action (ISSA) and Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PAHRA), and the Mindanao-based Initiatives for Peace (InPeace Mindanao). Each of them has received funding ranging between P35 million and P11 million and the projects proposed under the funding will be implemented during the next two to three years. The European Commission has also provided another funding of 3.9 million Euros to extend technical assistance to address the issue of extra-legal killings.
The six organizations were selected out of the 30 applications received by the EC under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights. According to the EC Ambassador, Alistair McDonald, this funding is part of the commitment of the EC to strengthen civil society for protecting and promoting human rights and democratic reforms in the region.
16 October 2009
Source