A/HRC/44/22 60. The Philippines has one of the highest per capita uses of social media in the world, with Facebook being the dominant platform. While social media is an important tool for civil society to share information, it has also been used to spread misinformation, to troll, to red-tag and to harass civil society and opposition politicians, with women particularly subjected to misogynistic comments. 91 Facebook has removed at least 200 instances of coordinated inauthentic behaviour found in Facebook and Instagram pages, groups and accounts, which it found were linked to a network organized by the social media manager of the President’s electoral campaign. 92 The Government has also increasingly filed criminal charges, including by using special powers and laws relating to COVID-19, against social media users posting content critical of government policies and actions.93 61. Twenty media and non-governmental organization websites faced a spate of distributed denial of service attacks in 2018 and 2019 after posting stories critical of officials. A lawsuit relating to the attacks was settled out of court in March 2020.94 C. Situation of indigenous peoples, farmers and internally displaced persons 62. As at 31 March 2020, 359,941 persons remained displaced in Mindanao due to armed conflicts and natural disasters – many protractedly, including 127,865 persons following the 2017 siege of Marawi.95 63. Serious concerns remain that the persistent lack of security and economic development in Mindanao, which includes insufficient progress in rebuilding Marawi, and the reported violations of international humanitarian law and the lack of progress in transitional justice and reconciliation,96 provide fertile ground for radicalization. Although no hostilities have been reported between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Armed Forces of the Philippines since the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, armed clashes continue in other parts of Mindanao with ISILaffiliated non-State armed actors: the Abu Sayyaf Group, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Maute Group. 64. Ongoing clashes between the army and NPA, and the activities of other armed groups, continue to cause displacements in eastern and northern Mindanao. The implementation of martial law in Mindanao and of Memorandum Order No. 32 in the island of Negros has increased militarization in the region, with far-reaching impacts on the rights of farmers and indigenous peoples, in particular. 1. Land, farmers and indigenous peoples 65. The Philippine legal framework for the rights of indigenous peoples remains, on the face of it, exemplary. Powerful business and political actors, however, consistently undermine efforts at land distribution and agrarian reform. The requirement for free and prior informed consent for any interventions in indigenous communities is regularly manipulated, including through bribery and intimidation, as has been noted in multiple independent studies. 97 While the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples has substantial powers, there remains mistrust in its effectiveness and its independence. 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 See Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, opinion No. 61/2018. See https://about.fb.com/news/2019/03/cib-from-the-philippines/. See also www.tsek.ph. See, for example, www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1099910 and www.dole.gov.ph/news/press-statement-onthe-deportation-of-a-filipina-caregiver-in-taiwan-for-the-crime-of-cyber-libel/. See www.qurium.org/alerts/philippines/attributing-the-attacks-against-media-human-rigthsphilippines/ and www.altermidya.net/parties-to-cyberattack-cases-reach-agreement/. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mindanao displacement dashboard, March 2020, issue No. 67. See, in particular, Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission recommendations, at www.tjrc.ph/. See www.giz.de/en/downloads/giz2013-en-assessing-free-and-prior-informed-consent-fpicphillipinen.pdf and A/HRC/32/35/Add.3. 13