2 MIN READ

By RAYMUND VILLANUEVA
www.nordis.net

First published on Kodao, April 17, 2026.

QUEZON CITY — The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Award.

The US-based Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center (REKHRC) said the association of Filipino human rights lawyers is the recipient of its 43rd annual prize as “outstanding champions of social justice.”

Named after the prominent American political couple, the award identifies and honors those who embody individual and collective moral courage to overcome injustice.

“Each year, we honor outstanding champions of social justice who stand up to oppression, even at great personal risk, in the nonviolent pursuit of human rights,” REKHRC said.

The Human Rights Award has honored human activists from 31 countries since its inception.

NUPL representatives are set to receive the award in a ceremony on June 4 at the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.

“For nearly two decades, NUPL lawyers have worked to uphold due process, freedom of expression, and the rights of the marginalized under extremely challenging circumstances,” said Kerry Kennedy, Kennedy Human Rights Center president.

“In the face of persecution and personal danger, NUPL members have remained unwavering in their fight to protect human rights and public interest law. Their resilience, resistance, and courage are an inspiration and a roadmap for anyone seeking to fight back against abuses and repression by those in power,” Kennedy added.

Bravest rights lawyers

NUPL president Ephraim Cortez said they are “deeply honored” by the award as it amplifies not just their human rights work but the urgent call for accountability in the Philippines.

“This award is not ours alone; it belongs to every Filipino who has been silenced, red-tagged, or denied justice, and to every colleague who has risked their life to stand beside them,” Cortez said.

The NUPL is the Philippines’ largest voluntary association of human rights lawyers dedicated to defending civil liberties and providing pro bono legal services to victims of politically-motivated abuses.

It has more than 500 lawyers, law students, and legal workers on its roster who, despite constant vilification and even the assassinations of its members, continue the work of their founder and inspiration, lawyer Romeo Capulong.

The NUPL was founded in September 2007, when extrajudicial killings under the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime had horrified local and international human rights defenders in scope and brutality.

The Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Award is the latest human rights prize won by the country’s most active public interest lawyers.

Local, international recognition

Former NUPL chairperson Neri Colmenares received the prestigious 2020 International Bar Association Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Rights. In December 2025, The University of Melbourne in Australia conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws on Colmenares.

Union officers and members had been honored as inaugural recipients of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Human Rights Award in 2024. Named as top human rights lawyers were NUPL chairperson Edre Olalia (for Luzon), Kristian Jacob Lora (for Visayas), and assistant vice president for Mindanao Antonio Azarcon (for Mindanao).

NUPL-National Capital Region secretary general Kristina Conti was named as one of 2025’s 15 Outstanding Women in Nation’s Service for her human rights work. NUPL was also the recipient of the 2024 Ebru Timtik Award by the international group Lawyers for Lawyers.#nordis.net