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Press Release

Responding to the arrest warrant served to Maria Ressa at the Rappler offices today on charges of ‘cyber libel’, Amnesty International Philippines Section Director, Butch Olano, said: “Just days after the National Bureau of Investigation announced that it will indict Maria Ressa for cyber libel, a warrant for her arrest was served today. Amnesty International Philippines condemns the arrest based on a trumped-up libel charge. This is brazenly politically motivated, and consistent with the authorities’ threats and repeated targeting of Ressa and her team. Authorities should end this harassment, drop the charges, and repeal this repressive law. “In a country…

February 13, 2019

Press Release

Responding to news that the Philippine Department of Justice has recommended ‘cyber libel’ charges against Maria Ressa, the editor of news outlet Rappler, together with one of its former reporters, Amnesty International’s Philippines Section Director, Butch Olano, said: “The latest harassment of Maria Ressa and her team comes as no surprise. Rappler’s fearless journalism has consistently exposed the so-called ‘war on drugs’ for what it really is: a deadly campaign that has led to thousands of unlawful killings of poor and marginalized people, including children. Critics, activists, and journalists alike have faced President Duterte’s wrath for speaking the truth. “In this…

February 6, 2019

Press Release

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte today attacked critics of his deadly ‘war on drugs,’ telling human rights activists: “your concern is human rights, mine is human lives” and promising the continuation of a “relentless and chilling” campaign. In response, Rachel Chhoa Howard, Amnesty International’s Philippines Researcher, said: “Thousands of people in the Philippines have died as a direct result of President Duterte’s murderous policies, which have mostly targeted the country’s poorest people. Duterte’s claim to be a defender of human life is an insult to the families of these victims, especially coming after his public vow to continue the killings. “While human…

July 23, 2018

Press Release

Wikipedia enthusiasts from around the world are joining forces on 19 and 20 May 2018 to take part in a global edit-a-thon to shine a spotlight on extraordinary unsung women human rights defenders who have devoted their lives to fighting injustice. BRAVE:Edit, a collaboration between Amnesty International and Wikimedia (Wikipedia’s non-profit organization), will see hundreds of online activists from over 20 countries taking to the popular website to upload biographies of women human rights defenders. Women human rights defenders are women, in all of their diversity, working on any human rights issue, and defenders of all genders working on rights…

May 18, 2018

Press Release

Responding to the news that President Duterte has ordered the police to resume their role in supporting his administration’s so-called “war on drugs,” James Gomez, Amnesty International’s Director of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said:

December 5, 2017

Press Release

Reacting to the news that the Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte is again considering expanding the role of the police in his administration’s “war on drugs”, James Gomez, Amnesty International’s Director of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said the following

November 23, 2017

Report

Civilians on the island of Mindanao paid a high price with dozens killed and widespread destruction of homes and property amid the ‘battle of Marawi’ that pitted the Philippine military against militants allied to the armed group calling itself Islamic State (IS) between May and October this year, Amnesty International said in a report today.

November 16, 2017

Press Release

As Donald Trump prepares to meet leaders at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Manila on November 12 and 13, Amnesty International is urging him to condemn President Duterte’s murderous “war on drugs,” and push him to investigate the unlawful killing of thousands around the country. 

November 10, 2017

Press Release

Responding to the discovery of the body in Gapan City of Reynaldo de Guzman, a 14-year-old boy who had been missing for nearly three weeks, Amnesty International’s Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, made the following statement.

September 6, 2017

Press Release

After Philippine police killed 32 people in what is believed to be the highest death toll in a single day in President Rodrigo Duterte's so-called "war on drugs", Amnesty International’s Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, James Gomez, said:

August 16, 2017

Press Release

The number of police killings of suspected drug dealers has skyrocketed in Indonesia this year, an alarming rise which signals that authorities could be looking to emulate the murderous “war on drugs” in neighboring Philippines, Amnesty International said today.

August 15, 2017

Press Release

Following today’s suspension of more than a dozen police officers and the announcement of an internal investigation into revelations that 12 people were detained illegally in a cramped “secret jail cell” in Manila on drugs-related charges, Champa Patel, Amnesty International’s Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said: “This is an alarming reminder of the depth of the human rights crisis sparked by President Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’. Prison overcrowding and secret jails with a risk of torture are just part of the wider problem, which has left up to 9,000 people dead in extrajudicial executions by police and vigilantes…

April 28, 2017