PHILIPPINES: „Caravana Filipina“ international fact-finding mission.

An international „Caravana Filipina“ monitoring mission took place from 4 to 14 June 2024, involving 12 international delegations in the Philippines, including the International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger (OIAD).

The main purpose of the Caravan was to investigate and seek justice for the attacks on lawyers, prosecutors and judges in this Asian country from 2016 to date. An agenda of strategic meetings was held with various judicial actors, family members and direct victims of these attacks, who were put in this situation because of their profession.

These meetings revealed repeated violations of effective judicial protection for these people, which has led to an unprecedented increase in attacks on lawyers, fostering a „culture of impunity“ and a climate of fear through „red tagging“ and the repression of civil society and freedom of expression.

Following this fieldwork,, the Caravana is working on a fact-finding mission report, which should be published and sent to the international authorities to raise awareness of this serious human rights violation.

The „Caravana Filipina“ is also constantly monitoring the vulnerability of our colleagues and is always on alert in case a rapid response to an emergency situation is required.

The mission’s press release is available at the following link:

https://protect-lawyers.org/wp-content/uploads/PHILIPPINES-CARAVAN-PRESS-STATEMENT_FINAL.docx.pdf