With the increasing number of attacks against lawyers, judges and prosecutors in the Philippines, various lawyers’ organizations have come together for a “Colloquium on the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers: Focus on the Philippines.”
The Colloquium will be an avenue to revisit the basic principles on the role of lawyers and the duty of States to protect members of the legal profession. This event brings together lawyers from various fields of practice to discuss the challenges to the free and unhampered exercise of the profession under the present context.
The event is scheduled for today, March 14, 2019 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Auditorium, P. Dona Julia Vargas Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig. It is open to the public and photo opportunities for the media are available.
The main organizers of the event are the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), Union of International Advocates (UIA) and Day of Endangered Lawyers Foundation. Upon their request, it is hosted by the National Union of the Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP).
This Colloquium gathers lawyers from Belgium, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, United States representing various lawyers’ groups including the IADL, UIA, DELF, Confederation of Lawyers in Asia and the Pacific (COLAP), National Lawyers Guild (NLG) of the U.S., Progress Lawyers Network of Belgium, Italian Democratic Lawyers, Japanese Lawyers for International Solidarity and Action (JALISA), and Minbyun of Korea.
It is likewise supported by Dutch Lawyers for Lawyers, European Lawyers for World Human Rights and Democracy (ELDH), European Democratic Lawyers (AED), International Association of Peoples’ Lawyers (IAPL), Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers of UK, Hellenic Union of Progressive Lawyers (HUPL) of Greece, Italian National Bar Association, and the Dutch League of Human Rights.
The speakers are: Judge Felix P. Reyes, President of the Philippine Judges Association (PJA) who will also represent Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin Atty. Abdiel Dan Elijah “Ade” S. Fajardo, National President of the IBP; Atty. Neri Colmenares, Chairman of the NUPL; and a representative of the present International Delegation of Lawyers.
The International Delegation of Lawyers will also meet with government offices, law enforcement agencies, bar associations, law professors, non-government organizations, and victims and/or their families and discuss the issue of the attacks on their peers and brethren in the Philippines.#
PRESS RELEASE | 14 March 2019
Contact: M. Pinlac – Ad Hoc Delegation Secretariat
09159074183 ¦ [email protected]