Sherwin De Vera
Sherwin De Vera is a the coordinator of Defend Ilocos, a regional environmental network in north western Philippines affiliated with Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment. The organisation is currently leading a campaign against large-scale mining projects in the region that would be detrimental to local communities’ right to a safe and healthy environment. The human rights defender is also a former human rights worker of Karapatan.
Of serious concern in the Philippines is the persistence of extrajudicial killings and physical attacks against HRDs, nearly all of which are perpetrated with impunity. Despite being a party to several international human rights treaties which impose a duty on the state to investigate alleged violations of the right to life, the Philippines has provided human rights defenders with little or no protection.
