In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDEFEND) welcomes the resolution filed by Iceland at the 41st UN Human Rights Council Session in Geneva, seeking a comprehensive report by the High Commissioner, on the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines pursuant to the government’s war on drugs. The draft resolution Read more…
Today, we celebrate International Women Human Rights Defenders Day. Women human rights defenders are women who defend human rights, and all persons who defend the rights of women, girls and LGBTQIA+ persons. Several human rights defenders and organizations declared November 29 as the International Day on Women Human Rights Defenders Read more…
By JV Manglicmot Almost two years into the campaign against illegal drugs, accountability remains to be a problem. With thousands of Filipinos dead and thousands more widowed or orphaned, while rich drug lords remain free and unscathed, the campaign to rid the country of illegal drugs has not only been Read more…
To mark the 109th international celebration of Women’s Day, hundreds of women gathered together in front of the University of Sto. Tomas and marched to Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila on March 8, 2018 to denounce violence against women as a policy of the Duterte administration. Aside from chanting the women’s Read more…
Presidential Proclamation No. 224 Series of 1988 declares the observance of the month of March as Women’s Role in History Month. Republic Act No. 6949 Series of 1990 declares March 8 of every year as National Women’s Day, which aims to give recognition to the contributions of Filipino women in Read more…
The Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA) condemns all attempts to suppress press freedom in the Philippines. As advocates of human rights and communication rights, FMA believes that freedom of the press and of expression are fundamental to civil liberty and must be upheld especially at a time when the very Read more…
In September 2010, GALANG, a lesbian-initiated, lesbian-run feminist human rights organization founded in August 2008, developed Tatsulok Komiks to deal with lesbophobia by coming up with a comic series anchored on the themes of equality and non-discrimination in Principle 2 of the Yogyokarta Principles. Tatsulok is the Filipino word for Read more…
In 1970, the Malayang Samahan ng Bagong Kababaihan or MAKIBAKA (Free Movement of New Women), founded by Lorena Barros, an activist, held a picket in front of the Araneta Coliseum where a beauty pageant was being held. Slogans by the group included “Women should fight for national democracy,” “Down with Read more…
In 1975, the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) was created by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 633. The Decree states that the creation of the NCRFW is borne out of a need for a body to “review, evaluate, and recommend measures, including priorities, to ensure the Read more…
In 1907, Cebu Congressman Filemon Sotto filed a women’s suffrage bill in the American-sponsored Philippine Assembly, upon the encouragement of Pura Villanueva Kalaw, the founder of the Asociacion Feminista Ilonga. During that time, only Filipino men of some education and property had the right to vote. Article V of the Read more…