— Event update: We regret to inform you that due to unforeseen circumstances, the discussion “Recovering from Violent Populism: Justice and Accountability in the Post-Duterte Era” scheduled for September 25 has been canceled. For future updates about this event, please register for our newsletter. —
Between 2016 and 2022, the Philippines was devastated by political violence at the hands of former President Rodrigo Duterte. Fueled by a violent form of penal populism, the violent campaign dubbed a “war on drugs” led to the extrajudicial killing of thousands including numerous critics, political opponents, journalists, human rights actors, and union organizers. The gross and systematic human rights violations were characterized by numerous human rights NGOs, as well as the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, as constituting crimes against humanity.
The speaker, Former Senator Leila M. De Lima, was not only a victim of arbitrary detention, spending close to seven years behind bars under a slew of charges that ranged from sedition to drug trafficking, but she was also among the first to investigate Duterte’s crimes. De Lima first investigated Duterte in 2009 for extrajudicial executions, allegedly committed while he was mayor of Davao City, when she was the Chairperson of the National Commission on Human Rights, and later as a Senator, when she was Chair of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights (Jun.-Sept. 2016). Besides her inquiries into human rights violations, being a former human rights Commissioner (2008-2010), Secretary of Justice (2010-2015) and a Senator (2016-2022), made De Lima a prime target. Not only was her prosecution meant to set an example to anyone who would challenge Duterte, but it remains to be a clear illustration of how conspiracist tropes and anti-establishment rhetoric were woven together to justify and normalize authoritarian measures.
In her speech, in addition to providing an overview of the current political trajectory of the Philippines, De Lima will explore the role of international and domestic mechanisms for justice and accountability in the re-establishment of democratic politics in one of Asia’s oldest democracies.
This event is cosponsored by Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World, the Harvard Asia Center, the International Human Rights Clinic and East Asian Legal Studies at Harvard Law School.