AT a time when human rights defenders are needed as ever, members of the legal profession have increasingly found themselves under attack.
Since 2001, at least 27 lawyers and 18 judges have been killed in the Philippines, while others have received death threats or have been subjected to surveillance and other forms of harassment, according to the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers.
The attacks against human rights defenders worldwide were highlighted on Dec. 10 by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: “This Human Rights Day is an occasion to salute the courage and achievements of human rights defenders everywhere—and to pledge to do more to safeguard their work…When the lives of human rights advocates are endangered, we are all less secure. When the voices of human rights advocates are silenced, justice itself is drowned out.”
As a young lawyer who began to practice law in 2003, Jobert Pahilga is one such human rights defender who has been targeted and harassed because of his work. Jo Abaya-Santos followed Pahilga in the course of serving his clients of mostly poor farmers and peasants, and asserting his right to exercise his profession, despite the attacks and lack of financial reward.
His story, captured in Abaya-Santos’s photo essay, makes one wonder, “Who will defend the defenders?”
(This project was produced by VERA Files with support from the Canadian Embassy.)
