The Movement Against Tyranny-Australia (MAT) presented a timely discussion on the human rights situation in the Philippines, with a roundtable session held at Western Sydney University last month on Oct. 25.
Discussions were led by Professor Gill Boehringer, former Head of Law School at the Macquarie University; Peter Murphy, Chairperson of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP); and Charm Sing, a Filipino international student from the University of New South Wales. Professor Boehringer was deported recently from the Philippines.
Human rights are inalienable and yet, the Duterte regime violates these intrinsic rights with impunity. There are over 13,000 cases of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. The recent instances of red-tagging in universities essentially curtail people’s rights to free expression and speech. It is therefore important to generate conversations around the relationship between human rights advocacy in the local and international spheres.
Through this focused conversation, the discussants shared data, stories, and analyses on the human rights situation under the current regime in the Philippines and how this correlates to international human rights advocacy.