Day of the endangered lawyer
Philippines
On 23 January 2015, the “Day of the Endangered Lawyer”, attention will be asked for the situation of lawyers in the Philippines. Since 2001, at least 41 lawyers and 18 judges have been murdered in the Philippines. The suspects of these crimes seem to be in the army and the police, but the government refuses to take any action. Since 2013, the number of murders on lawyers and judges have been increasing.
On this day, many lawyers, in solidarity with their colleagues, will protest outside of Philippine Embassies and Consulates throughout Europe. The “Day of the Endangered Lawyer” is a joint initiative of European Democratic Lawyers (AED-EDL, www.aed-edl.net) and the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH, www.eldh.eu), supported by several organizations, L4L amongst them.
To mark the fifth “Day of the Endangered Lawyer”, a panel discussion is organized in the Hague, with Edre Olalia, Human Rights Lawyer from the Philippines, Judith Lichtenberg, boardmember of L4L, Gerrard Boot, boardmember of Judges for Judges and Hans Gaasbeek. They will speak about the current situation of lawyers in the Philippines. Why are they targeted? What can they do to protect themselves? What can Dutch lawyers and judges do to support their colleagues in the Philippines?
Everybody is welcome to join the demonstration and the panel discussion the Hague. For more information on The Day of the Endangered Lawyer, please email hgaasbeek@gaasbeekengaasbeek.nl or by phone 0652055043
For more information, please click here.