Philippines Calls for Mainstreaming of Women’s Rights 

Ambassador Evan P. Garcia (center), Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, moderates the panel discussion on women’s rights at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on 02 July 2018. The panelists were (L-R) Dr. Dinna Wisnu, Indonesian Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights; Retired Ambassador Rosario Manalo, CEDAW Committee Rapporteur; Ms. Vanessa Erogbogbo from the International Trade Center; and Ms. Sukti Dasgupta from the International Labour Organization. (Geneva PM photo)

GENEVA 06 July 2018 — The Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva called for the mainstreaming and strengthening of women’s rights, during a panel discussion it organized on 02 July 2018.

Entitled “Mainstreaming Women’s Rights: Perspectives from Southeast Asia,” the panel discussion shared insights on the experiences, best practices, challenges, and opportunities related to the protection and promotion of women’s rights in all sectors of government, economy and society.

In his opening remarks, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the UN and Other International Organizations Evan P. Garcia drew attention to the work of bodies like the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Women, the ASEAN Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Women and Children, and the ASEAN Committee on Women, which recently launched an ASEAN HeForShe Campaign to help ensure that both girls and boys are agents for change towards gender equality.

Ambassador Garcia highlighted that the Philippines ranked tenth out of 144 countries in the 2017 Global Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum, making the Philippines the only Asian country in the top ten list insofar as economic participation and opportunity, education, political empowerment, and health and survival are concerned.

“The Sustainable Development Goals should be interpreted through the lens of human rights obligations: we must promote, not dilute, the obligations of states to protect human rights,” Ambassador Garcia said, echoing a recent report on discrimination against women in law and practice presented to the ongoing 38th Session of the Human Rights Council.

Retired Philippine Ambassador Rosario G. Manalo, Rapporteur for the Committee on the Elimination of All Kinds of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), focused on the challenges and opportunities of promoting women’s, rights in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. She warned that violence take many forms, including physical, sexual, psychological, and economic. Cyber-shaming and bullying added to the challenges of protecting women’s rights.

Meanwhile, International Trade Center’s Women and Trade Programme head Vanessa Erogbogbo pointed out that trade and technology led to better openness for women, stating that women had increasing leadership roles in businesses, and that countries with more women-owned firms grew faster. She recommended the use of policies that addressed development constraints in order to bring gender to the core of development discussions.

On the labor side, International Labour Organization’s Employment and Labour Market Policies Branch Chief Sukti Dasgupta stressed the need for a systematic pursuit of gender equality in the workplace. She reported that while women earned, on average, less than men in Southeast Asia and had less access to social protection, steps were being undertaken in the region to address the gaps. ASEAN, in particular, has adopted several instruments related to the protection of women’s rights, such as declarations on migrant workers, prevention of violence against women, and social protection.

The panel discussion was one of three events that the Philippines spearheaded this year to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and the 25th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Viet Nam co-sponsored the side event.

The Philippines earlier launched an exhibit on children’s rights, and sponsored a related panel discussion. END

The panel discussion shares insights on the experiences, best practices, challenges, and opportunities related to the protection and promotion of women’s rights. (Geneva PM photo)

For more information, visit www.genevapm.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/PHinGenevaUN/