{"id":4569,"date":"2020-08-26T11:33:04","date_gmt":"2020-08-26T11:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/her-voice-carries-on-on-the-murder-of-zara-alvarez\/"},"modified":"2023-05-12T11:13:03","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T10:13:03","slug":"her-voice-carries-on-on-the-murder-of-zara-alvarez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/her-voice-carries-on-on-the-murder-of-zara-alvarez\/","title":{"rendered":"Her voice carries on. On the murder of Zara Alvarez"},"content":{"rendered":"

Press Release, Cologne, August 26, 2020<\/strong> Philippine human rights activist Zara Alvarez is dead – murdered on August 17, 2020 in Bacolod City (Philippines). Organizations from Europe condemn the act and give their voice to her cause.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are sad, stunned and above all angry. On the evening of August 17, the human rights defender Zara Alvarez (39 years old) was shot dead in Bacolod City, only a few hours after Randall Echanis\u2019 funeral, a land rights and peace activist, who was tortured and murdered on August 10.<\/span><\/p>\n

We, the signatories of this press release, stand united in solidarity with Philippine civil society, and demand justice and an end to the repression of voices critical of the government in the Philippines.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since her youth, Zara Alvarez actively campaigned for a fair society and fought for the protection of human rights in Negros.
Most recently she worked for the health organization NIHIP-CD (Negros Island Health Integrated Program for Community Development).<\/span><\/p>\n

The issues she advocated and the criticism she voiced triggered a series of intimidation attempts. She received death threats, was imprisoned between 2012 and 2014 on a trumped-up charge, and, upon her release, was denounced as a terrorist by the government. For her protection, Zara Alvarez was closely monitored by international teams of human rights observers on the ground since 2014, including trial monitoring. <\/span>But on August 17, she was gunned down while walking to her boarding house. According to the latest findings, the hooded murderer shot her in an ambush and fled on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice. <\/span><\/p>\n

The perpetrator may be unknown, but the recurring threats against activists by President Rodrigo Duterte and laws such as the Anti-Terror Law point to an increasingly authoritarian and repressive climate in the Philippines. <\/span><\/p>\n

For years, we have been pointing out that the Philippine Government, under the guise of counterterrorism, is brutally cracking down on human rights defenders and other civil society players. Thereby, the Government seeks to hamper and delegitimize the commitment of the civil society to human rights, a clean environment, a just distribution of land and the rights of Indigenous People. The work of human rights activists, journalists, environmentalists, lawyers, etc. is complicated by public insults and vilification, red-tagging, fabricated charges, politically motivated legal proceedings, and outright physical harassment. Zara Alvarez is one of the latest victims. <\/span><\/p>\n

Zara Alvarez is not the only victim of this climate of violence. As we mourn Zara Alvarez, we also mourn Randall Echanis, Ben Ramos, Jory Porquia, Bernardino Patigas, and all those murdered for their struggle for a more just society.
In order to remember them, we want to show our solidarity with Philippine civil society and honor Zara\u00b4s advocacies and the values she stood for.
We demand justice for Zara Alvarez! Justice for all politically persecuted and victims of the Duterte regime! <\/span><\/p>\n

#StopTheKillings! #JusticeForZaraAlvarez<\/strong>
<\/span><\/p>\n

Signatory Organizations:<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Aktionsb\u00fcndnis Menschenrechte \u2013 Philippinen<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Amnesty International (Germany)<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Amt f\u00fcr Mission, \u00d6kumene und Weltverantwortung der Ev. Kirche von Westfalen
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Arbeitskreis der \u00d6kumenischen Philippinenkonferenz
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Philippine Women’s Forum e.V.\/Babaylan Germany
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • barkadas e.V.
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Brot f\u00fcr die Welt
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • UK Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines (CHRP)
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Carpus e.V.
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Deutsch Philippinische Freunde e.V.
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Dreik\u00f6nigsaktion, Hilfswerk der Katholischen Jungschar
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • International Coalition for Papua (ICP)
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • International Peace Observers Network (IPON)
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Kirchenkreis Koblenz der Evangelischen Kirche im Rheinland
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Korea-Verband e.V.
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Misereor
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Missio M\u00fcnchen
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • philippinenb\u00fcro e.V.
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Philnetz e.V.
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • PowerShift e.V.
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Sri Lanka Advocacy
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Stiftung Asienhaus
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • United Evangelical Mission (UEM\/VEM)
    <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Westpapua-Netzwerk (WPN)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Privat Persons:<\/h3>\n
      \n
    • Michelle Anders
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Bishop Antonio Ablon (IFI)
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Philipp B\u00fcck
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Prof. Christoph Antweiler (Universit\u00e4t Bonn)
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Dr. Rosa Cordillera Castillo (Humboldt <\/span>Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin)
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Pfarrerin Joy dela Cruz (Ev. Kirche von Westfalen)
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Dr. Bernhard Hoeper (Bonn)
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Pfarrer Dr. Christian Hohmann (Ev. Kirche von Westfalen)
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Risa Jopson
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Ren Mangaban
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Stella Matutina
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Dr. Oliver Pye (Universit\u00e4t Bonn)
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Michael Reckordt
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Hadje C. Sadje (Foundation Academy of Amsterdam)
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Jasmine Grace Wenzel
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Dr. Rainer Werning (Publizist, K\u00f6ln)
      <\/span><\/li>\n
    • Fr. June Mark Ya\u00f1ez (IFI)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Press Release, Cologne, August 26, 2020 Philippine human rights activist Zara Alvarez is dead – murdered on August 17, 2020 in Bacolod City (Philippines). Organizations from Europe condemn the act and give their voice to her cause. We are sad, stunned and above all angry. On the evening of August 17, the human rights defender […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[63,58,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights-defenders","category-human-rights-news","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4569"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4574,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4569\/revisions\/4574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}