Opposition Senator Leila de Lima has called for an intensified campaign for the passage into law of a measure that seeks to protect human rights defenders (HRDs) against harassment and any form of abuse.
In her message read by her chief of staff at the colloquium on the protection of HRDs last Monday, De Lima said it is imperative that HRDs be able to fulfill their mission without being oppressed.
“Now, more than ever, we need the Human Rights Defenders Protection Act. We need a law that will safeguard the HRDs from harm, and help create an environment that will enable us to effectively carry out our mission,” De Lima said in her message entitled “The Places Where Human Rights Matter.” De Lima, a staunch critic of the Duterte administration, has re-filed her bill this 18th Congress and expects the bill to go through the proverbial eye of the needle since many of the President’s allies are in the House of Representatives and Senate.
Citing figures from rights group Karapatan, De Lima noted that 167 HRDs have been killed under the current administration, while there have been six cases of enforced disappearances. Of the 3,229 persons subjected to questionable arrests, HRDs are the majority.
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