872 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 79 PART 6 NOVEMBER 2021
The Philippines: Impunity for Murders of Lawyers Continues
Lawyers and defenders in the Philippines continue to suffer attacks and
murders, the most recent being the murders of two human rights lawyers
on August 26, 202131 and September 15, 2021.32 Since 2016, dozens of
lawyers and hundreds of human rights defenders have been murdered with
impunity in the Philippines, as part of a systematic pattern of thousands of
extrajudicial killings associated with President Duterte’s “war on drugs”. On
September 15, 2021, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber authorized the ICC Office
of the Prosecutor to open an investigation into crimes against humanity in
the Philippines.33 The court found sufficient evidence to support an investigation
into “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population
… pursuant to or in furtherance of a state policy”.34 The Duterte
government announced that it will not cooperate with the investigation, so
in September 2021, LRWC joined numerous other international NGOs in an
intervention at the UN Human Rights Council seeking a parallel investigative
mechanism to support the collection and preservation of evidence for
use in trials of suspected perpetrators of crimes against humanity.
LRWC’s other interventions can be seen on its website at <www.lrwc.
org/category/publications/campaigns/countries/>.
ENDNOTES
1. United Nations, “What Is the Rule of Law?”, online:
<www.un.org/ruleoflaw/what-is-the-rule-of-lawarchived/>.
2. Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada, The Right to Legal
Aid: A Guide to International Law Rights to Legal Aid
(Vancouver: LRWC, 2014), online: <www.lrwc.org/
wp-content/uploads/2014/09/International-Rights
-to-Legal-Aid-Sept.19.BN_1.pdf>.
3. United Nations, “Access to Justice”, online: <www.
un.org/ruleoflaw/thematic-areas/access-to-justiceand
rule-of-law-institutions/access-to-justice/>.
4. UN General Assembly, International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966, art
14(3)(b), online: <www.ohchr.org/en/professional
interest/pages/ccpr.aspx>. See also UN Human
Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on
the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Gabriela
Knaul, A/HRC/23/43, 15 March 2013, online:
<undocs.org/A/HRC/23/43>.
5. For a summary of the situation in mid-September, see
Catherine Morris, “Protect Afghanistan’s Truth-
Tellers: Human Rights Defenders in a World of Diplomatic
Doublespeak”, Slaw (15 September 2021),
online: <www.slaw.ca/2021/09/15/protect-afghan
istans-truth-tellers-human-rights-defenders-in-aworld
of-diplomatic-doublespeak/>.
6. Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights, “Oral Update on the Situation of
Human Rights in Afghanistan”, 48th Session of the
Human Rights Council, 13 September 2021, online:
<www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/Display
News.aspx?NewsID=27445&LangID=E>.
7. Ritu Mahendru, “‘The Taliban Will Have No Mercy’:
LGBTQ+ Afghans Go into Hiding”, The Guardian
(20 September 2021), online: <www.theguardian.
com/global-development/2021/sep/20/talibanlgbtq
afghans-go-into-hiding>.
8. The term “atrocity crimes” is used internationally to
refer to crimes against humanity, genocide and war
crimes. See United Nations, Framework of Analysis
for Atrocity Crimes: A Tool for Prevention (Geneva:
UN, 2014), online: <www.un.org/en/genocide
prevention/documents/about-us/Doc.3_Framework%
20of%20Analysis%20for%20Atrocity%20
Crimes_EN.pdf>.
9. Nema Milaninia, “Evidence Destruction and the Crisis
in Afghanistan”, Just Security (20 August 2021),
online: <www.justsecurity.org/77831/evidencedestruction
and-the-crisis-in-afghanistan/>.
10. International Criminal Court, “Afghanistan: Situation
in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan” (ICC-02/17),
online: <www.icc-cpi.int/afghanistan>.
11. Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada, “USA: Attack on
International Criminal Court: The US Must Immediately
Lift Sanctions Against ICC Personnel” (29
March 2021), online: <www.lrwc.org/usa-attack-on
-international-criminal-court-the-us-must-immediately
-lift-sanctions-against-icc-personnel-statement/>.
12. Murray Brewster, “Former MP to Ask International
Criminal Court to Investigate Canada’s Afghan War
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