47th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Extraducial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Delivered by Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) on behalf of 19 national and international organisations Thursday, 1 July 2021   Madame President, I speak on behalf of 19 national and [ Read more ]

Date: Wednesday, 30 June 2021 Time: 12 AM – 1.30 PM (CEST) / 5 PM – 6.30 PM (ICT) / 6 PM – 7.30 PM (PHT) Venue: Zoom / Live from PAHRA social media Registration: tinyurl.com/HRC47Philippines  **** In June 2020, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights released a comprehensive report which reveals that there [ Read more ]

Date: 17 June 2021 Time: 3:00 – 5:00 PM Bangkok time (GMT +7) // 4:00 – 6:00 PM Manila time (GMT +8) Platform: Youtube Live, Facebook Live and Twitter Live available on iDefend’s Official Page Registration: http://l.forum-asia.org/ICCOnline21 (English interpretation will be available on Zoom)   On 14 June 2021, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda requested an [ Read more ]

(15 June 2021, Bangkok) – Thousands of people who have fallen victim to the ‘war on drugs’ in the Philippines are now a step closer to justice should a recommendation for a full investigation into suspected crimes against humanity by International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda be accepted by the court’s judges. ‘The ICC [ Read more ]

Karapatan: Arbitrary designation of peace consultants under terror law a death warrant 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 [ Read more ]

May 11, 2021 LILAK’s Statement on the FTAA renewal of OceanaGold Philippines Inc. (OGPI) OCEANA’s MINING PERMIT RENEWAL – 25 more years of violence and destruction LILAK (Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights) believes that President Duterte’s impending renewal of the mining agreement of OceanaGold Philippines Inc. (OGPI) for another 25 years presents clear and [ Read more ]

(Bangkok, 20 May 2021) – The Philippine government must immediately rescind Executive Order (EO) 130 and reject OceanaGold’s mining permit renewal as it imperils every Filipinos’ constitutional right to a safe and healthy environment. The Executive Order also guarantees continued impunity in a country dubbed as one of the most dangerous places for environmental human [ Read more ]

In this month’s e-newsletter, FORUM-ASIA talked with Ritz Lee B. Santos III, Executive Director of BALAOD Mindanaw, FORUM-ASIA’s member in the Philippines. In the interview, Ritz shared with us how ordinary people doing extraordinary work keeps him going, a defining moment that completely changed his thoughts on solidarity and how upholding human rights is a duty. How did you [ Read more ]

(Bangkok, 18 March 2021) ‒ The Philippine Government must face international accountability for its widespread killing of activists and human rights defenders, and the grave human rights violations it has committed, seven human rights groups said in a statement today. On 7 March 2021, members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the military killed nine [ Read more ]

On SOJ’s statement at HRC46 Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra in his speech before the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council missed a very important point regarding “working domestic accountability mechanisms” in the Philippines — that the killings continue. What’s worse is that the domestic mechanisms have allowed such to continue with impunity, with [ Read more ]