<p>Parliamentarians from across Southeast Asia today called on President Rodrigo Duterte&rsquo;s regime in the Philippines to immediately end its vicious and dangerous campaign of &ldquo;red-tagging&rdquo; opposition lawmakers, which is part of widespread attempts to intimidate and silence opponents.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The global press freedom groups and civil society organizations collective #HoldTheLine Coalition calls for the new criminal cyber libel charge against Filipino-American editor and journalist Maria Ressa to be dropped.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On International Day of Democracy, Southeast Asian lawmakers called on governments in the region to end all forms of threats and harassment against opposition MPs, following the&nbsp;publication of a new report&nbsp;that documents such reprisals. ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) also called for solidarity among lawmakers from across the political spectrum.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As debates on the death penalty begin in the House of Representatives today, Southeast Asian parliamentarians urgently called upon members of the Philippine Congress to strongly oppose efforts aimed at reintroducing capital punishment in the country.</p>

<p>On 9 July, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced the launch of the #HoldTheLine campaign in support of journalist Maria Ressa and independent media under attack in the Philippines.</p>

<p>Southeast Asian lawmakers on 29 June called upon the UN Human Rights Council to act on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights&rsquo; findings by establishing an international independent investigation mechanism into the human rights violations committed in the Philippines since 2015.</p>

<p>Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) vehemently condemns the illegal arrest of at least 20 pride protestors from Bahaghari (a national LGBTQI+ organisation), Children&rsquo;s Rehabilitation Center, GABRIELA and other LGBTQI+ allies on 26 June 2020 while commemorating the international pride month in Mendiola, Manila, Philippines.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Amid widespread outrage at the guilty verdict handed to Maria Ressa, co-founder of the independent news website Rappler, and its writer, Reynaldo Santos Jr, many international civil society organizations have called for the case to be dismissed.</p>

<p>The conviction of a prominent journalist for criminal libel is a devastating blow to media freedom in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hrw.org/asia/philippines">Philippines</a>, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/15/philippines-rappler-verdict-blow-media-freedom">Human Rights Watch said today</a>.</p>

<p>The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hrw.org/asia/philippines">Philippines</a>&nbsp;government is on the verge of enacting a counterterrorism law that will eliminate critical legal protections and permit government overreach against groups and individuals labeled terrorists, Human Rights Watch said today. The draft Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/duterte-allies-pass-anti-terrorism-bill-congress-200603114854123.html">passed</a>&nbsp;both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to quickly sign the bill into law.</p>