News & Statements

IAPL's Tribute to Honorable Crispin "Ka Bel" Beltran

Serious violations continue against the poor peasants in Brazil

IAPL's tribute to Atty. Romeo T. Capulong

Filipino government’s attempt to revive Anti-Subversion Law slammed

Malasian Police Attacks Lawyers' March on Human Rights Day

IAPL Condemns the State Terror Unleashed Against Poor Peasants in Northern Brazil

Peasants and Workers’ Organizations Condemns the Repression of Peasants and Poor People in Southern Para

IAPL condemns attacks on lawyers, judges, and activists in Pakistan

IAPL's delegation returns from its Finding Finding Mission in Chhattisgarh, India

International campaing to free Prof. Sison Launched

Prof. Jose Maria Sison! Arrested by the Dutch Police on 28 Aug. 07.

IAPL: "The Dutch government can be held liable for violating the rights of Prof. Sison..."

ILPS demands justice for Abu-Mumia Jamal

IAPL's Message Of Support To The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal

IAPL Condemns the Brutal Killing of Filipino Human Rights Lawyer, Atty. Gil Gojol

IAPL's Solidarity message to the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) 2nd General Assembly

Defending People’s Rights Against Foreign Aggression And State Terrorism

Security, Freedom and Democracy: Justification for the State Terrorism

Mechanisms Of State Terrorism And State Repression

Terror as the Basic Function Reactionary and Fascist States

The Defense of Human Rights and the Right of Resistance in the Area of War on Terror

Combating Terrorism in the Netherlands: Implementation of the Framework Decision on Terrorism

The War on Terror in Europe is a Deliberate Strategy to Criminalize Every Resistance Against Capitalism

The Status of National Liberation Movements in International Law and Their Use of Armed Force

Another Lawyer Assassinated in the Philippines

Asian Lawyers Condemn Killings of Lawyers in the Philippines

Protect International Human Rights Lawyer Romeo T. Capulong, Denounce Killings of Activists in the Philippines

End the Lawsuit Against the Student Barbara Flores!

back to top
News & Statements

IAPL's Tribute to Honorable Crispin "Ka Bel" Beltran
Statement issued by the IAPL

IAPL extends its heartfelt condolences to Ka Osang Beltran, to the children, grand children and great grand children of Philippine Congressman and genuine labor leader, the Honorable Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran. IAPL also extends condolences to the Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Party, of which he was the President and representative in Congress, and to the leadership and member unions of Kilusang Mayo Uno (May first Movement), and to all Filipinos fighting for freedom, justice and democracy.

Serious violations continue against the poor peasants in Brazil
From the Press

The criminalisation of the peasant struggle by the reactionary press and the cruel repression against the peasants in the northern part of Brasil

The Poor Peasants League - LCP - mostly in the state of Rondonia, western Amazonia (border with Bolivia) - has been often attacked by the reactionary country press.
May 2008

IAPL's tribute to Atty. Romeo T. Capulong
Statement issued by the IAPL

The International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) salutes and extends warmest greetings of solidarity to Atty. Romeo T. Capulong on the occasion of his being honored today as a Lawyer of the People (Abogado ng Sambayanan).

During the IAPL’s Third Congress held in Davao City, Philippines , last October 2006, Atty. Romeo Capulong was recognized by IAPL as an Eminent Person. He is the first person to be given this recognition by IAPL.
March 2008

Filipino government’s attempt to revive Anti-Subversion Law slammed
From the press

Anger and outrage met President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's announcement on Thursday that she was prepared to support the planned revival of the long-dead Anti-Subversion Law to subdue the communist insurgency. ...Edre Olalia, president of the International Association of People's Lawyers, said it was "a Jurassic legal step backward." .
15 December 2007

Malasian Police Attacks Lawyers' March on Human Rights Day
From the press

The police have arrested eight people, including five lawyers, for proceeding with a march to mark International Human Rights Day from the Sogo department store to Central Market in Kuala Lumpur early this morning.
03 December 2007

IAPL Condemns the State Terror Unleashed Against Poor Peasants in Northern Brazil
Statement issued by IAPL

Since November 17, 2007. massive operations have been unleashed against the peasants in the south of Para state, Northern Brazil. The operation, so-called “Operation Peace on the Countryside”, involves a number of repression organs and aims to hunt peasants who are struggling bravely for the right to the land against notorious landlords, who have repeatedly been accused of serious violations of human rights.
03 December 2007

Peasants and Workers’ Organizations Condemns the Repression of Peasants and Poor People in Southern Para
Joint Statement issued by Workers League & National commission of the League of Poor Peasants

The Workers League and the National Commission of the League of Poor Peasants denounces the violence, imprisonment and outrages against poor peasants in the Pará State, in the north of the country. By the ordinance of Pará State governor Ana Júlia Carepa ( from the Workers Party, led by Lula), a criminal operation has been deflagrated against the people of the area.
14 November 2007

IAPL condemns attacks on lawyers, judges, and activists in Pakistan
Statement issued by IAPL

The IAPL expresses its concern on the suspension of the Pakistani Constitution, the sacking of the Supreme Court and the blatant curtailment of basic freedoms. Trial by military tribunals of political actions has been authorized. Judicial checks on arbitrary exercise of executive powers have been abolished. Thousands of critics are in prison or house arrest without charges or under unfounded terrorism charges...
14 November 2007

IAPL's delegation returns from its Finding Finding Mission in Chhattisgarh, India
Statement issued by IAPL

The IAPL has been invited by its Indian chapter to visit, observe and report on the situation in Chhattisgarh. Accordingly, the IAPL invited its members and formed a fact finding team with participants coming from Belgium, Brazil, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Turkey and India. It traveled and visited Raipur, Jagdalpur, Dantewada, and surrounding rural areas between 22nd October to 26th October 2007.
27 October 2007

International campaing to free Prof. Sison Launched

Friends, comrades and colleagues of detained Philippine revolutionary leader Professor Jose Maria Sison gathered Wednesday in Utrecht,The Netherlands, at the international information office of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), to launch the “Free Jose Ma. Sison Campaign”.
07 September 2007

Free Prof. Jose Maria Sison!
Statement issued by the International Committee DEFEND

The International Committee Defend condemns in the strongest terms the unjust arrest this morning, August 28, of Filipino political exile Prof. Jose Maria Sison, by the Dutch Police, on trumped-up charges, and the simultaneous police raids in Utrecht on several houses of Filipinos, including the NDF International Information Office. The arrest of Professor Sison came after the Philippine Supreme Court dismissed several politically-motivated cases filed against him and several others.
28 August 2007

Dutch government liable for violating Sison’s rights as legitimate political refugee in The Netherlands
Statement issued by IAPL

The Dutch government can be held liable for violating the rights of Prof. Sison as a political refugee under the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as for violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and other related instruments and conventions.
06 September 2007

IAPL demands justice for Abu-Mumia Jamal

Considering that on May 17, 2007, Mumia Abu-Jamal and his advocates will present oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, at 9:30 a.m.; and this is a very important opportunity for him to be released, or otherwise, condemned to life imprisonment or execution through lethal injection;
May 2007

IAPL's Message Of Support To The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal

The International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL), being an international group of anti-imperialist human rights lawyers and law students from various countries especially where imperialist exploitation are most severe, human rights violations are most widespread and the peoples’ struggles are most intense, wholeheartedly supports this PPT session to look into the gross and systematic violations of human rights, economic plunder, and transgressions on the sovereignty of the Filipino people.
October 2006

IAPL Condemns the Brutal Killing of Filipino Human Rights Lawyer, Atty. Gil Gojol

Atty. Gil Gojol had just finished a court hearing and was returning to Sorsogon City, Bicol Province, Philippines when four armed men, riding motorcycles shot at the van he was riding in.
December 2006

back to top

IAPL's Solidarity message to the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) 2nd General Assembly

The International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) extends its warmest greetings of solidarity to the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) on the occasion of its 2nd General Assembly in Bandung, Indonesia this December 19-21, 2006. December 2006

Defending People’s Rights Against Foreign Aggression And State Terrorism

Globalization, which is supposed to distribute wealth equally among nations and thus make the world a bit peaceful, is not only increasing the economic hegemony of rich countries led by the United States but is also engendering wars and armed conflicts. Countries, particularly the developing world, face not only the worst economic and financial crisis and the further destitution of their own people but also bear the additional burden of having to contend with wars and foreign intervention.
October 2006

Security, Freedom and Democracy: Justification for the State Terrorism

In ideological terms, this war has an apparatus that is the base for the anti-terror policies like recipes, to be applied in different countries. Thus, the terms Security, Freedom and Democracy are used exactly in this context.
October 2006

back to top

Mechanisms Of State Terrorism And State Repression

State by its very definition is authoritarian and terrorist and repression is an indispensable part of terrorism. The state is always an instrument of oppression. It is inherent in the existence of the state. That is exactly why Karl Marx spoke about the withering of the state.
October 2006

Terror as the Basic Function of Reactionary and Fascist States

With the control of the masses securely in their hands, the primary function of the state becomes the establishment of a system in which the means of production are geared towards capital. Because this kind of organization relies on exploitation, it paves a way to injustice, poverty, hunger, death and misery. Only a mechanism based on force can secure the continuation of a system bent on supporting a handful of millionaires. The name of this mechanism is state terror.
October 2006

The Defense of Human Rights and the Right of Resistance in the Area of War on Terror

History is repeating itself in Britain. Whether it will repeat itself as farce, only time will tell. One thing is certain. Tony Blair and Charles Clarke are trying to put in place the most reactionary legislation in modern times.
December 2005

Combating Terrorism in the Netherlands: Implementation of the Framework Decision on Terrorism

We have to be concerned about the 2002 framework decision on terrorism and its implications for the EU member states. In the Netherlands the tone is set since the implementation of that framework decision in our legislation. The Act on terrorist offences, in force since 2004 goes much further than required by the framework decision.

back to top

The War on Terror in Europe is a Deliberate Strategy to Criminalize Every Resistance Against Capitalism

There is no question that a state should arm itself against terror deeds like those from Al-Qaeda. These blind extreme right and fascist terrorist actions do not deserve our understanding. The victims of these actions are the innocent persons in the streets of New York, London and Madrid. So too are the Iraqi people, who are victims of the unlawful occupation in Iraq by the US and Great Britain. This state terrorism also does not deserve any understanding. These two forms of terrorism are each other’s breeding ground.

Another Lawyer Assassinated in the Philippines

The International Association of Peoples’ Lawyers (IAPL) condemns in the strongest possible terms the assassination of Philippine human rights lawyer and political activist, Norman Bocar. In the morning of 1 September 2005, Norman Bocar was shot by two unidentified gunmen as he was coming out of a late night meeting in Borongan, Eastern Samar, in central Philippines. Bocar sustained several bullet wounds including some in his head. The gunmen were riding motorcycles when they fired several shots at him.
October 2005

Asian Lawyers Condemn Killings of Lawyers in the Philippines

The Fourth Conference of Lawyers in Asia and the Pacific (COLAP 4) held in Seoul on September 2-3, 2005 issued a Joint Declaration, condemning human rights violations in many Asian counties including the killings of Philippine lawyers which it considered as an attack against the human rights of the Filipino people.
September 2006

The Status of National Liberation Movements in International Law and Their Use of Armed Force (PDF File)

This paper seeks to give an academic legal opinion – using a survey of pertinent legal literature - on the legitimacy under international law of national liberation movements and their use of armed force.
The status of national liberation movements in international law has been the subject of much scholarly work through the years. The increasingly progressive trend and view in international law and diplomatic circles is that such liberation movements are considered to have a locus standi in international law in the context of the struggle of peoples against colonial domination, alien occupation or racist regimes in the exercise of their right to self-determination.
November 2004

Protect International Human Rights Lawyer Romeo T. Capulong, Denounce Killings of Activists in the Philippines

On March 7, 2005, unidentified gunmen attempted to assassinate Romeo T. Capulong, a human rights lawyer and ad litem judge of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, at his farm in Nueva Ecija, Philippines.
March 2005

End the Lawsuit Against the Student Barbara Flores!

On March 24, 2005, Brazilian students from several areas of the country rallied in front of the United States’ consulate. The demonstrators were violently repressed by the police, arresting 5 students, including an under aged.
March 2005

back to top