Amnesty International Philippines to honor ASMPH scholar Franchesca Garcia at Ignite Awards for Human Rights

Amnesty International Philippines is set to honor Franchesca Paula "Cheska" L Garcia, a YL6 student and a scholar at the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health, as its Outstanding Young Human Rights Defender at its Ignite Awards for Human Rights.

The organization is honoring Garcia for her advocacy on violence against women, safe spaces, and equal rights for the LGBTQIA+ community. This includes her work with TLF Share and Love Yourself on localizing several HIV testing hubs and Republic Act 11166 (Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act, 2018), and with the local government unit of San Pablo City, Laguna on teenage pregnancy.

Launched in 2017, the Ignite Awards are the first-ever human rights awards in the Philippines. It aims to recognize human rights defenders who have brought about impact by changing peoples lives, policies, activism, and accountability through their human rights work.

This year's awards follow the theme “Protect the Protest,” Amnesty International’s newest campaign on the right to protest that it launched in 2022.

Garcia credits her time in ASMPH as helping enable her advocacy.

"This would not be possible without the knowledge and the new learnings on public health that I was able to gain in ASMPH for two years," she stated in an email. "I am sincerely grateful to our alma mater, hence I would like to share this award [with] the ASMPH community."

In addition, she stated that she hopes her award "inspires all Filipino youth out there to continue working on their purpose, on taking initiatives, on withholding zeal for service, and on remembering the grit needed to help and to serve."

Other awardees in this year's Ignite awards include Walden Bello, for Distinguished Human Rights Defender – Individual; CenterLay, for Distinguished Human Rights Defender – Organization; and Calix and BLKD of the rap group Sandata, for Art that Matters for Music. 

Garcia and the rest of the awardees are set to receive their awards at Amnesty International's awards ceremony on 10 June 2023 at the Luxent Hotel in Quezon City.