The constant attacks on the country’s human rights defenders need to end.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) strongly condemns the recently shooting of another human rights defender, Brandon Lee, who was attacked just in front of his house on Monday, August 5, in the town of Lagawe in Ifugao. Lee was a journalist and worked as a paralegal volunteer with the Ifugao Peasant Movement and for the online media outfit Northern Dispatch.

We cannot continue to allow a culture of violence to fester in our society. This rhetoric, alongside the vilification of human rights as a concept, leads to violence against innocents. Whether they are activists, lawyers, or government workers, it is important that they can do their work and exist without risk of violence at every turn.

As such, CHR calls for the quick passage of the Human Rights Defenders Protection Bill. These numerous acts of violence prove the immediate need for a law that will safeguard human rights defenders against senseless loss their lives and other forms of assault while fighting for the rights and dignity of every Filipino. It is equally part of the government’s obligation to make sure that human rights defenders and activists can do their work without fearing for their safety, and the safety of their family and loved ones. ###