Full Breakdown
NUPL Wins 2026 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award
6/6/2026, 9:56:31 PM
Award Presentation and Significance
On 5 June 2026, the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) received the 2026 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in Washington, DC. The award, now in its 43rd year, honors groups that confront oppression through non-violent human-rights work.
Background and Leadership
Founded in 2007, NUPL has spent nearly two decades defending victims of unlawful killings, arbitrary detention and other rights violations in the Philippines. Secretary-general Josalee Deinla leads campaigns for families of the disappeared and for victims of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, now assisting cases before the International Criminal Court.
Human Rights Violations: Data and Scope
Human-rights monitors estimate Duterte’s drug campaign caused tens of thousands of deaths, with some groups citing nearly 30,000 fatalities. In April 2026, a military operation in Toboso, Negros Occidental, left 19 dead, with investigators noting possible summary executions. ICC judges confirmed three counts of crimes against humanity against Duterte in April 2026; he remains detained pending trial.
Responses and Criticism
NUPL called the award an anchor of its shared struggle and reaffirmed a pledge to resist “orderly tyranny,” urging lawyers to remember that each hearing and jail visit represents people harmed by a system never built for them. Human-rights groups condemn the drug war for indiscriminate lethal force and for shielding perpetrators, and they label the Toboso incident as evidence of military excess demanding independent investigation.
Ground Realities and Data Gaps
Survivors report daily exposure to violence, labeling of organizers as “communists-terrorists,” and frequent arrests, disappearances or killings, illustrating the environment NUPL seeks to document. Sources differ on the drug-war death toll, ranging from “tens of thousands” to an estimated 30,000, and precise figures for the Toboso killings remain unverified.
Verbatim Quotes
- “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,” — Josalee Deinla, NUPL Secretary General
- “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,” — Josalee Deinla, NUPL Secretary General
- “A drug war that killed tens of thousands of poor Filipinos, where uniformed killers received commendations instead of charges, and perpetrators are allowed to flee, coddled by their powerful peers,” — Josalee Deinla, NUPL Secretary General
- “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,” — Josalee Deinla, NUPL Secretary General
What’s Next
NUPL will keep supporting victims in ICC proceedings and use the award’s visibility to push for domestic reforms, including accountability for drug-war abuses and investigations into the Toboso killings.
