The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child last week called on the Philippine government to “take all necessary measures” to prevent summary executions, especially the murder of children. According to human rights observers, under the current administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo there have been over 1,500 extrajudicial killings, forced abductions and disappearances and over 1000 victims of torture. 1 out of 9 victims of summary executions are children between 12 and 18 years old.

Since the 2007 visit of Phil Alston, U.N. Special Rapporteur on summary executions, 38 more children were discovered as victims of extra judicial killings.

Rex Fernandez is National Legal Counsel for the human rights group the Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples’ Rights. Rex has spent nearly three decades defending the politically disadvantaged in the Philippines against charges, arrests and abductions by state security forces and he’s assisted more than 150 human rights defendants in court.

He’s also a leading expert on the Writ of Amparo, a new legal tool to stop torture and other human rights violations in military installations camps…