Philippine Lawyers' Group NUPL Receives 2026 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

The National Union of Peoples' Lawyers received the 2026 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in Washington, DC, on June 5, Manila time. NUPL secretary general Josalee Deinla accepted the award on the organization's behalf.

The award is now in its 43rd year and recognizes individuals and organizations who stand up to oppression, even at great personal risk, in the nonviolent pursuit of human rights. The NUPL was established in 2007 and has advocated for victims of unlawful killings and detention since then. Deinla dedicated the award to the group's slain members and those who stood up for the marginalized.

"We accept this award as an anchor of our shared struggle. It binds our reality to yours, forces us to look at each other, to disrupt myths that keep us complacent, and to refuse to make peace with an orderly tyranny," she said. "Ours has never been an easy path, but we will stay the course knowing that movements grounded in the people's struggle are built to last," Deinla added.

The NUPL represented victims of former president Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs in Philippine courts and is currently assisting some victims in the International Criminal Court's proceedings. Duterte remains detained at the ICC after judges confirmed three counts of crimes against humanity against him in April. Several human rights groups state that Duterte's drug war killed nearly 30,000 people.

Deinla also cited a military operation in Toboso, Negros Occidental, that killed 19 individuals in April. She said findings from the incident pointed to signs of summary executions and the use of lethal force against already incapacitated persons. "These are the daily lives of millions of Filipinos.

When they rise and organize, they are labeled communists-terrorists. Then, too often, they are arrested, disappeared, or killed," she said. Deinla reminded lawyers to never forget that behind every hearing, every jail visit, every late night pleading, are people whose lives have been made harder by a system that was never built for them.