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Article

15 Jul 2020

Author:
CIVICUS

Philippines: Woman Human Rights Defender Teresita Naul featured in CIVICUS' #StandAsMyWitness campaign

'Why you should #StandAsMyWitness', July 18, 2020

Teresita Naul is a human rights defender in the Philippines... who dedicated her life to protecting the poorest and the most marginalised. She advocates for their right to health and other basic social services. She is a member of the Secretariat of the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao – Cagayan de Oro Chapter and Coordinator in Northern Mindanao for Karapatan, a leading human rights group.

She was among those arrested just two days after the country had been placed under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 15 March, she was arrested in Lanao del Sur, on the southern island of Mindanao, by the Philippine Army (AFP) and national police on charges of kidnapping, serious illegal detention, and destructive arson... She has been accused together with 554 other people of being involved in an attack against the military based in Agusan del Sur in December 2018. According to human rights groups, others accused of being involved include activists and journalists from Caraga and the Northern Mindanao Region, and also include nuns, a lawyer and public sector employees... She remains detained at the Agusan del Sur Provincial Jail, in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions that put her life at imminent risk, given her serious breathing disorder...

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