February 24 -- An Important Day

February 24 is an important day. Two years ago, President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines unjustly imprisoned Senator Leila de Lima, who had dared to challenge Duterte for his drug war killings, which now may number as many as 28,000.

Today, not only is de Lima still behind bars, Duterte's trying to jail another senator as well a newspaper publisher. He's promising to make the drug war even more deadly during the remaining three years of his term. And he's withdrawn the Philippines from the International Criminal Court treaty – but that won't stop him from one day facing justice for the crimes he's already committed.

This February 24 (this Sunday), we will call again for Senator de Lima's release. And we announce the launching of "Stand with Human Rights and Democracy: Global Campaign for the Philippines," a worldwide partnership to address this human rights crisis.

Join us if you can in Washington, DC, 4:00-5:00pm on Sunday February 24, for our protest at the Embassy of the Philippines, 1600 Massachusetts Ave. NW. When we protested there a year ago, the video went viral in the Philippines, sending the message that the world is watching. Please RSVP on our Event page [10], to let your friends know and to encourage others to join us.

Click here [11] to read about that action and watch the video. Along with the oversized Duterte and de Lima masks used in our street theater last year, we've added two new figures, Rappler publisher Maria Ressa (a TIME Person of the Year) and Senator Antonio Trillanes. It's going to be a good show, and we need your help.

Whether you can join us or not, please spread the word on social media. Click here [12] for a folder of images with sample text to post. And if you want to do more to protest this, check out our protest action resources [13] kit too.

February 24 is important. The loss of life in Duterte's drug war is bad enough, but the brazenness with which he's doing this is having international ramifications. The killings have spread to some countries already, and it's affecting the climate in more. Other human rights violations are on the rise in the Philippines too. Meanwhile, the Kremlin disinformation machine is supporting and campaigning for Duterte, in the Philippines and internationally.

If a dictatorship gets established in the Philippines, there's no telling how far the killings could go. That's why we're asking you to stand with human rights and democracy, and with our allies in the Philippines working for justice and a better drug policy.