The Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development is conducting a briefing on the human rights situation in the Philippines on May 4, 2021, 7:30 – 8:30 P.M. EST (May 5, 7:30 – 8:30 A.M. Philippine time).
Human rights advocates and organizations in Canada, including the International Coalition on Human Rights in the Philippines, have been calling for this hearing amidst the heightening of the human rights crisis in the Philippines and increasing calls on Canada to end its policy of quiet diplomacy and take more immediate and concrete actions. A joint letter to the Prime Minister’s office was signed in March 2021 by 65 Canadian trade unions, churches and other organizations and prominent individuals, following the Bloody Sunday massacre on March 7, 2021.
Witnesses from the Philippines and Canada have been invited to testify, including the following:
- MARIA RESSA is a Filipino-American journalist and author, the co-founder and CEO of Rappler, an online news site that has criticized President Rodrigo Duterte’s policies. In 2020, she was convicted of cyberlibel under the controversial Philippine Anti-Cybercrime law. She was selected by Time magazine as one of its 2018 Persons of the Year.
- CRISTINA PALABAY is the Secretary General of Karapatan Alliance Philippines, a national alliance of human rights organizations and a subject of continuing red-tagging and judicial harassment. Thirteen of her organization’s human rights workers have been assassinated under the current administration. She is a recipient of the 2019 Women Have Wings Courage Awards,
- GUY-LIN BEAUDOIN, a lawyer, is the co-chair of the International Coalition on Human Rights in the Philippines – Quebec. He has been part of many Human Rights exposure tours to the Philippines.
- CATHERINE COUMANS, PH.D is the Research Co-ordinator of Canadian Mining Companies focusing on the Asia-Pacific region with MiningWatch Canada.
Viewers can follow the hearings by connecting here: https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/43-2/SDIR/meeting-18/notice
When: May 4, 2021 at 7:30 P.M. EST to 8:30 P.M. EST.
For more information call Patricia Lisson: 514-241-9036