Latest News

Join Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers, and Karapatan in this public briefing on the current human rights crisis in the Philippines and proposals on the urgent steps that can be taken by the Supreme Court to uphold human rights, in response to its March 2021 statement. These proposals were submitted to the Supreme Court on May 18.

You can also watch the livestream of the public briefing on our Facebook page.

Ottawa, May 19, 2021 - On 4 May 2021, the Subcommittee on International Human Rights (the Subcommittee) heard harrowing testimony from witnesses who described the crumbling state of human rights in the Philippines.

The Supreme Court must take urgent action to protect human rights defenders and their lawyers, human rights groups and victims of human rights violations urged anew on Tuesday in a letter submitted before the high court in response to its March 23, 2021 statement on the threats, red-tagging, and killings of judges and lawyers as well as their clients.

Human rights alliance Karapatan today called for the immediate release of Caraga peasant leaders Marcela “Silay” Diaz, 59 years old and a stage 4 cancer patient, and Virgilio “Yoyong” Lincuna, 70 years old and a former political prisoner as well as a stroke survivor suffering from partial paralysis. The group’s call came after the death of peasant leader Joseph Canlas of the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson due to COVID-19. Canlas, who had hypertension and diabetes, was said to have contracted the virus inside prison.

The Anti-Terrorism Council’s designation of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultants and peace panel members as “terrorists” under the Anti-Terrorism Act is “red-tagging in its most blatant and most dangerous,” human rights alliance Karapatan asserted on Thursday, as the group assailed the designation as “brazenly arbitrary that it violates basic principles of due process — and whose consequences have proven to be deadly.”