List of Attorneys, Prosecutors, Judges, and Legal Workers Attacked With Murderous Intent in the Philippines During the Duterte Government Since July 2016
As of 28 February 2020
Compiled by the IAPL Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers[1]
in cooperation with Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC)
Researched and written for IAPL and LRWC by Gill Boehringer with an introduction by Gail Davidson and Catherine Morris, 31 March 2020.
During the 44 months from 1 July 2016 to 28 February 2020, 67 attorneys, prosecutors, and judges were violently attacked in the Philippines. The attacks resulted in 55 deaths, making an average of 1.25 extrajudicial killings of attorneys, prosecutors and judges per month. In addition, four legal workers were attacked, killing three. Murderous attacks against legal professionals continue to increase under the government of President Rodrigo Duterte with few meaningful investigations or prosecutions. The entrenchment of impunity for attacks on legal professionals impairs the ability to obtain legal representation and undermines the right of equal access to justice.
On 11 July 2019, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UN HRC) adopted a resolution requesting the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR) to present a comprehensive report on human rights in the Philippines to the UN HRC in June 2020. The resolution also urged the Philippines “to take all necessary measures to prevent extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, to carry out impartial investigations and to hold perpetrators accountable.”[2] In September 2019, LRWC and other NGOs,[3] including the IAPL, submitted a statement to the UN HRC recording 45 extrajudicial killings of attorneys, prosecutors and judges in the 37 month period between 1 July 2016 and 28 July 2019 – an average of 1.2 extrajudicial killings of legal professionals per month. At the 43rd session of the UN HRC in March 2020, groups highlighted the extrajudicial killings of 48 legal professionals since the start of Duterte’s presidency, of whom 31 were attorneys, 10 were prosecutors and seven were judges. The Philippines has never conducted an independent public inquiry into the pattern of extrajudicial killings of legal professionals.
This report provides a comprehensive list of the attorneys, prosecutors, judges and legal workers attacked with murderous intent between 1 July 2016 and 28 February 2020. The list below stands as stark and tragic evidence that the Philippines has failed to comply with the July 2019 resolution of the UN HRC. LRWC and IAPL call on the Philippines to cooperate and comply fully with the UN HRC July 2019 resolution and to institute a comprehensive public inquiry into attacks on and extrajudicial killings of attorneys, prosecutors, judges and legal workers in the Philippines since 1 July 2016 that complies with international standards established by the Minnesota Protocol (2016).
See the full list of Attorneys, Prosecutors, Judges, and Legal Workers Attacked With Murderous Intent in the Philippines During the Duterte Government Since July 2016
Contact
Gill Boehringer, Co-Chair
Stuart Russell, Co-Chair
IAPL Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers:
International Association of People’s Lawyers http://iapl.net/.
Email Gill Boehringer: gill_boehringer@hotmail.com
Email: Stuart Russell: jsrussell301254@protonmail.com
Gail Davidson, Executive Director
Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada
Email: lrwc@portal.org
Tel: +1 604 736 1175
Web: www.lrwc.org
Catherine Morris, Deputy Executive Director
Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada
Email: cmorris.lrwc@gmail.com
The International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) is a federation of organizations of people’s lawyers, jurists, law students, paralegals and legal workers in various countries, facing human rights violations. IAPL: http://iapl.net/. IAPL Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers: https://defendlawyers.wordpress.com/
LRWC is a volunteer-run committee of lawyers and other human rights defenders who promote international human rights, the rule of law, the integrity of legal systems and advocacy rights around the world, through advocacy, education and legal research. LRWC has Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council. LRWC: https://www.lrwc.org/
