Human Rights and Protection of Lawyers | PHILIPPINES

International Delegation of Lawyers - Mission to the Philippines


Concerned about the rising number of killings of lawyers in the Philippines[1], UIA actively supported an international delegation of lawyers from Belgium, Italy, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, and the United States, who travelled to the Philippines on March 14-18, 2019:

   - to look first-hand into the reported targeting of lawyers, prosecutors, judges, and paralegals in the exercise of their profession;
   - to monitor the State’s compliance with the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers; and
   - to monitor international accountability in relation to those standards.

The international delegation represented various lawyers’ groups including UIA, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), the Day of Endangered Lawyers Foundation DELF, the Confederation of Lawyers in Asia and the Pacific (COLAP), National Lawyers Guild (NLG) of the U.S., Progress Lawyers Network of Belgium, Italian Democratic Lawyers, Japanese Lawyers for International Solidarity and Action (JALISA), and Minbyun of Korea.

The mission included:

- Colloquium on the UN Basic Principles and Role of Lawyers: Focus on the Philippines

UIA, together with the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), and the Day of Endangered Lawyers Foundation, were among the main organisers of the Colloquium on “The UN Basic Principles and Role of Lawyers: Focus on the Philippine situation” that was held on March 14, 2019. The Colloquium aimed at discussing with legal practitioners from various fields of practice the challenges to the free and unhampered exercise of the profession under the present context in the country. It was hosted by the National Union of the Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP).

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- Meetings and conferences in Metro Manila and Iloilo : Preliminary Findings Report

The International Delegation of nine lawyers met with government officials, NGOs, the Commission on Human Rights, legal professionals, victims and families of victims in Metro Manila and Iloilo in order to gather data on the reported attacks targeting lawyers, prosecutors, judges, and paralegals in the exercise of their profession.

On March 18, 2019 they presented a Preliminary Findings report including several recommendations aiming at “stopping the extrajudicial killings, threats, and harassment of lawyers, prosecutors and judges”.

Download the report