CIVICUS Board Elections 2022

Abigail Freeman

Cristina Palabay

Dear friends and colleagues at CIVICUS, 

I am Cristina Palabay, Secretary General of Karapatan Alliance Philippines, a national alliance of human rights organizations, desks and individual advocates working for the promotion and protection of human rights in the country, being elected twice as such since 2012. 

I took up AB Philippine Studies at the University of the Philippine Diliman. While as a young activist then, I led the biggest alliance of student governments in the country. I am among the founders and later on the Secretary General of the Gabriela Women’s Party, one of the few women’s political parties in the world with members of Parliament in the Philippine House of Representatives, during which I campaigned for the full implementation of the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and for the enactment of the Magna Carta of Women. I have been involved in campaigns for the enactment of legislation against torture and enforced disappearances, and for justice and reparations campaign for victims of martial law during the Marcos government, as well as various international human rights campaigns and forums. 

Currently, I am also a Regional Council member of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD). a feminist regional platform of more than 200 grassroots women’s organizations in the Asia Pacific region. 

Karapatan has been a member of CIVICUS in the past few years, and we are proud and happy to be in this broad and diverse social movement. For me, the opportunity to possibly serve on the CIVICUS Board means two things: to learn from the realities and strategies of global civil society and help harness this strength and to help build stronger movements that can promote just and transformative solutions and alternatives. 

  1. What is your favorite quote by someone who inspires you? 

“Peace cannot exist without justice, justice cannot exist without fairness, fairness cannot exist without development, development cannot exist without democracy, democracy cannot exist without respect for the identity and worth of cultures and peoples.” – Rigoberta Menchu

  1. What skill are you most proud of or want to learn? 

I would want to learn various languages so I will be able to have more meaningful conversations and exchanges with peoples on their daily lives and struggles.  

  1. What is your vision for civil society? 

My vision for civil society is for it to be recognized as a powerful force for genuine change in various contexts - one that does not only push back when spaces and rights are taken from us or disregarded as a development actor, but one that populates and reclaims spaces for alternative and just solutions. A diverse, and yet united civil society is what most of us needs right now, amid the overwhelming global challenges. 

  1. What lesson(s) have you learnt from failure? 

It is never a weakness nor a failure to recognize and rectify one’s mistakes or wrongs - in fact, it is an act of strength. We should not stop from learning from our lived experiences and our stories of struggles. To be an activist means one has to be an optimist who sees through political storms and sorrows and emerges to organize more, to organize better and to build more movements, and better movements. 

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