Lawyers in the Philippines under attack.
April 9th, 2008
Since February 2005 at least ten lawyers and at least one judge were murdered in the Philippines. Many others are intimidated daily, threatened and are being followed. Most murders are committed men on a motorcycle who shoot their defenceless victim in the back while driving by.
Not one single of these murders on lawyers and judges in the last five year was solved. The targets have one and the same characteristic: they are human rights lawyers and critical judges that have been using their legal knowledge in defending victims of land expropriations, the massive militarisation and the living conditions of the millions of poor in the country.
Since the government of president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came into power five years ago already 700 activists were murdered in a similar manner: journalists, trade unionists, priests, farmer’s leaders, human rights activists and lawyers.
The involvement of the military in these killings is clear.
The International Association of Democratic Lawyers has set up a solidarity campaign with the lawyers and judges under threat in the Philippines and has taken or participated in several initiatives
Statements and resolutions
- Wed, 24/12/2008 - 16:14
- Tue, 15/04/2008 - 23:52
- Tue, 15/04/2008 - 22:06
Links
National Lawyers Guild International Committee - Philippines subcommittee
Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights)
Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL)
National Union of Peoples Lawyers (Phillipines)
News from the campaign
- Fri, 04/12/2009 - 14:11
Until ‘butchers' in Ampatuan massacre are convicted
Lawyers will wear black armbands, ribbons in courts
As a symbolic way to demand speedy justice for the victims of the Ampatuan town massacre, human rights law group, National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL), has directed all its 300 lawyer-members in the country to wear black armbands or ribbons especially whenever they appear in courts until the ‘butchers' of 59 innocent civilians, journalists, and lawyers have been convicted.
- Mon, 12/05/2008 - 21:47
Excerpt from Repression & Resistance, The Filipino People vs Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, George W. Bush, et. al., Permanent Peoples' Tribunal Second Session on the Philippines, The Hague, The Netherlands, March 21-25, 2007.
- Wed, 16/04/2008 - 00:26
A joint Women’s Human Rights Delegation on behalf of IADL, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the International Justice Network and the National Lawyers Guild visited the Philippines from May 25th 2006 to June 2nd 2006. The delegation composed of Tina Monshipour Foster, Rachel Lederman, Vanessa Lucas, Judith Mirkinson and Merrilyn Onisko released a report on the findings and called on the U.S. Congress to investigate the use of our tax dollars to fund Philippine political repression and human rights violations.
The delegation came to the following conclusion:
- Tue, 15/04/2008 - 23:43
In recognition of the urgency of the appeal of the Initiating Group of
Philippine organizations, the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal convened the
Second Session on the Philippines in march 2007 in The Hague
(Netherlands). - Tue, 15/04/2008 - 22:32
Speaking before the United Nations Human Right Council’s (UNHRC) 7th session on March 13, lawyer Edre Olalia backed the recommendation of Hina Jilani, special representative of the UN secretary general, “that the situation of human rights defenders be one of the elements to be examined in the upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR)” to be undertaken by the UN body.
More information to download
- Probing Political Persecution, Repression & Human Rights Violations in the PhilippinesDownload:
- Report International Fact Finding Mission 2006Download: