International Women’s Alliance – Europe in Solidarity with the Filipino People: Justice, Accountability, and the Fight Against Impunity
Members of: Rise Up for Life and Justice, and Pinay sa Holland - Gabriela, along with Attorney Conty.
Across Europe, the International Women’s Alliance stands in solidarity with the Filipino people in their continuing struggle for justice, accountability, and genuine democracy.
Earlier this week, we commemorated EDSA 1, marking 40 years since the People Power Uprising, and the end of the 14 year dictatorship of Marcos Sr. We recall the long history of authoritarian rule and systemic plunder in the Philippines, the most vicious of which was under Ferdinand Marcos Sr., whose regime amassed an estimated USD 5–30 billion in ill-gotten wealth, including at least USD 683 million recovered from Swiss bank accounts. This legacy of corruption did not end—it evolved into a system where political dynasties, oligarchs, and elite interests continue to consolidate power while evading accountability.
Today, this culture of impunity remains deeply entrenched. Under Ferdinand Marcos Jr., there has been no meaningful reckoning with past crimes, and corruption scandals involving billions in public funds continue to surface—resources that should serve the Filipino people but instead reinforce elite control.
This week in The Hague, Netherlands, our member organisations have been participating in the Bantay Katarungan week, as the ICC proceedings to confirm the charges against former president Rodrigo Duterte took place. We underscore the urgent importance of these ongoing proceedings ICC that hold the former President accountable for his crimes against the Filipino people through his so-called “war on drugs.” This campaign, widely documented as a war on the poor, resulted in thousands of extrajudicial killings, targeting the most vulnerable—urban poor communities, workers, and marginalized families.
Evidence presented in international and domestic investigations, including reports of monetary incentives for killings, exposes a system where violence was normalized and lives reduced to transactions.
IWA Europe salutes the brave family members of victims and the Rise Up for Life and for Rights alliance, who have initiated this process while Duterte was still president. These family members, most of them mothers whose sons have been brutally gunned down, have remained steadfast in their quest for justice in the face of media attacks, fake news, misinformation and a system that deems the life of the poor not worth fight for. They ahve continued to defy this and empower their communities to assert their rights.
Women, especially mothers, have borne the deepest wounds.
We honor the mothers who lost their children to state violence.
We stand with by Nanay Llore Pasco, whose two sons were killed, Sheerah Escudero, whose brother was killed and Rubilyn Litao, who continued to be outspoken and all this week as they faced media attacks all based on lies. We stand with all those who continue to seek justice despite threats, stigma, and fear. We recognize the children left orphaned, traumatized, and abandoned by a system that failed to protect them.
The ICC process is a critical step toward breaking the cycle of impunity that has long shielded powerful figures—from dictators to contemporary political leaders—from accountability. It sends a clear message: no one is above the law.
However, justice cannot stop at one individual. Impunity in the Philippines is sustained by a broader system—where corruption, patronage politics, and economic inequality enable the same actors to remain in power across generations.
As women and migrants in Europe, we call for:
Full accountability for Rodrigo Duterte and all those responsible for extrajudicial killings;
Continued support for international justice mechanisms, including the ICC;
Accountability for corruption and human rights abuses under the current administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.;
An end to the system of political dynasties, oligarchic control, and bureaucratic capitalism that perpetuates inequality and injustice.
We stand with Filipino women, workers, and communities in their calls for justice:
Justice for the victims of extrajudicial killings.
Justice for the victims of state violence.
End impunity now.
In solidarity, we reaffirm our commitment to support women and people’s movements, amplify the voices of victims, and strengthen international pressure to hold perpetrators accountable.
The struggle continues—not only to remember the past, but to transform the present.
Stand with the Filipino people.
Fight impunity.
Advance justice and dignity for all.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S ALLIANCE EUROPE
internationalwomensallianceeu@gmail.com
On the occasion of the ICCs confirmation of Rodrigo Duterte’s case on Crime against Humanity/ Bantay Katarungan Week
Feb. 27, 2025