IPON - International Peace Observers Network

The International Peace Observers Network (IPON) is a German independent non-intervening and non-profit organization which aims for improving the human rights situation in the Philippines by sending observers to conflict areas.

The Instrument of human rights observation is based on the idea that, if a country has ratified the UN "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" (and/or other relevant international declarations on human rights), it is therefore responsible to enhance, respect, and implement human rights. If a country does not follow these responsibilities independent international observers will document these violations of human rights and bring it to public attention. Both the international public and the responsible governmental institutions of the concerned country are supposed to view the incidents as a violation of an international treaty. IPON follows this legalistic approach to human rights.

Since 2006 IPON accompanies organizations of human rights defenders in the Philippine, starting with the request of the farmers organization KMBP (Kilusang Magbubukid ng Bondoc Peninsula) in Bondoc Peninsula, Quezon Province. IPON observers are present in Negros Occidental and Mindanao accompanying the human rights defenders of TFM (Task Force Mapalad) and PADATA (Panalsalan And Dagumbaan Tribal Association).