The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers was founded September 15, 2007 as a nationwide  association of human rights lawyers as well as law students, paralegals and legal workers in the Philippines united by a commitment to the defense, protection, and promotion of human rights especially of the poor and the oppressed.

The clientele of the NUPL are the marginalized and oppressed sectors – farmers, workers, fisherfolk, urban poor, women, youth, students, children, migrant workers, indigenous peoples, Moro people, minority groups, political activists and human rights defenders.

The NUPL is oriented towards the active defense, protection and promotion of human rights covering the peoples’ civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights, including the advocacy and assertion of their inherent right to self-determination.

The NUPL was organized to provide mechanisms for collaboration, coordination, assistance and facilitation of legal services in the local and national levels. As a frontline advocacy, the NUPL is united and committed to render competent legal services, with the use of one’s legal education, skills, training, knowledge and experience, to the marginalized sectors for upholding and promoting their rights and freedoms.

The NUPL  is an affiliate of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), which has consultative status with the United Nations. It also has linkages with various international human rights lawyers organizations,including the Confederation of Lawyers in Asia in the Pacific (COLAP).