MANILA, Philippines – Human rights lawyer Angelo Karlo Guillen, after being red-tagged for his work with indigenous people and surviving an assassination attempt in 2021, has been awarded the Baldwin Medal of Liberty.
“I am honored to accept the Baldwin Medal, which I do on behalf of all Filipino human rights lawyers and defenders,” said Guillen in a statement.
Guillen is a lawyer from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) and legal counselor to one of the 37 petitions questioning the Anti-Terrorism Act in the Supreme Court. He survived a screwdriver attack in 2021 wherein his laptop and documents were stolen, allegedly due to his defense of 16 Tumandok tribe members who were arrested in 2020.
READ: Rights lawyer survives attack by playing dead, loses all case files
The Iloilo-based lawyer remembered the Tumandok tribe and other disenfranchised sectors during his acceptance of the award, which happened to fall on National Indigenous Peoples Day.
“Indigenous peoples, like the Tumandok community, as well as farmers, labor leaders, and activists, have borne the brunt of unjust arrests, extrajudicial killings, and other human rights violations committed by state security forces that, to this day, still take place throughout the country. Their rights must be protected, and we hope that this recognition will help bring attention to their plight,” said Guillen.
The international award recognizes people who have significantly advanced human rights outside the United States, with previous recipients including Hong Kong human rights lawyer Albert Ho and Egyptian activist Kholoud Saber Barakat.
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