ABSTRACT
Human rights NGOs have a long record of activity in the promotion and protection of international human rights standards. Instrumental in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 (Weissbrodt 1984: 42930), they became important actors in an ‘international human rights regime’ during the 1980s, giving rise to a substantial body of literature.1 Studies of the intranational roles of human rights NGOs in the developing world are rarer, however, and exist mainly in report or monograph form.2 Yet, intranationally, human rights NGOs have not only contributed to the protection and promotion of human rights standards, but have also eroded the legitimacy of authoritarian regimes, mobilised specific constituencies in support of opposition campaigns, and shaped political discourse in post-authoritarian polities. This chapter thus presents a study of Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), the largest human rights NGO in the Philippines, its contribution to the protection of human rights and its role in Philippine politics.
