In 2009, as chair of the Philippine National Human Rights Commission, she investigated Duterte’s role in the extrajudicial killings committed under his mayorship of Davao City, and in 2016, as chair of the Senate’s Justice and Human Rights Committee, she initiated a Senate probe into the drug war. On the day of the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, Leila de Lima, a Philippine senator (of whose international legal team we are members), filed for reelection from prison, where she has spent nearly five years on entirely trumped-up charges for seeking official investigations into the drug war.įor over two decades, De Lima has pursued justice for the victims of state atrocities at different governmental levels. During Duterte’s latest state of the nation address this summer, he doubled down on the brutal campaign. As president-elect, he stated, “If you are still into drugs, I am going to kill you.” He urged citizens to kill drug users, granted immunity to law enforcement for wrongdoing, and even compared himself to Adolf Hitler.Īs long as this culture of impunity persists, so will the killings, which increased by more than half from April to July 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown. Government documents and high-level officials, including Duterte and the national police chief, have described the drug war’s purpose in no uncertain terms: Kill all “drug personalities,” including those suffering from drug addiction.ĭuring Duterte’s bid for the presidency, he boasted of killing “around 1,700” people and promised to kill 100,000 criminals within six months of taking office. The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber found the killings to be systematic, pursuant to official state policy. The affected families are driven further into poverty and suffer life-long trauma. Victims are summarily shot and executed, often in their homes, in front of their children, and while pleading for their lives. The ICC prosecutor estimates up to 30,000 people were killed between July 2016 and March 2019 alone.
In September, the International Criminal Court (ICC) authorized an investigation into the crimes of the drug war, ruling there is a reasonable basis to believe Philippine security forces and vigilantes have committed crimes against humanity instigated by the drug war campaign and Duterte’s related statements.
Drawing on a common authoritarian refrain, Duterte labeled the site a “fake news outlet.” In 2020, the month before Ressa’s conviction, the government forced the Philippines’ largest television network, ABS-CBN, off the air-similarly for its critical reporting on the drug war-despite it serving as the only available news source in certain regions. In 2018, the Duterte administration tried to shut down Rappler altogether. Last year, she was convicted of fabricated “cyber libel” charges for which she could face up to six years in prison, pending an appeal.
#Maria ressa torrent#
Ressa has been subjected to 10 arrest warrants in less than two years and faced a torrent of violent threats online. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s government persistently harasses and targets Rappler and Ressa, including by making concerted attempts to prevent her from traveling to receive the prize.
Rappler has received international acclaim for its unrelenting coverage and its reporters who serve tirelessly in the trenches, investigating and documenting extrajudicial killings and exposing the Philippine government’s official fatality numbers as vastly underreported.
In recognizing the remarkable Filipina journalist Maria Ressa, who was awarded the 2021 prize along with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, the Norwegian Nobel Committee cited Ressa’s investigative news outlet Rappler and its role in covering the mass atrocities of the drug war. It also specifically directed urgent attention to an overlooked and deadly drug war by the Philippine government against its poor. This year’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony was more than a recognition of courageous journalists defending a global press under siege.
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