AS DELIVERED

Statement delivered by

HON. PATRICIA B. LICUANAN

Chairperson

Commission on Higher Education

Republic of the Philippines

During the 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

UN Headquarters, New York, 9 March 2015

Item 3: Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and to the

twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000:

gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Philippines aligns itself with the statements made by G77 and China and by ASEAN.

Twenty years after Beijing, the Philippines is pleased to celebrate and share its gains in the promotion and protection of the human rights of women and girls. Our national review findings indicate that the gender gap has narrowed specially in the areas of education, political participation, peace and institutional mechanisms.[1]

The Philippines ranks 9th in the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report (WEF-GGP) of 2014, and is the only country in Asia that has fully closed the gender gap in education and life expectancy.

We were the first country in Asia to develop a National Plan of Action on Women, Peace and Security to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325. We pride ourselves on having women at the forefront of the successful conclusion of peace negotiations with armed groups in Southern Philippines.

We attribute this progress in gender equality to our 1995 Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development, which adopted gender mainstreaming as the strategy to advance women’s rights in the country; our gender and development budget policy, which mainstreamed gender equality in the government planning and budgeting process; and the strengthening of our national women’s machinery, which developed gender sensitive targets and indicators. 

These were strengthened by the enactment of the Magna Carta of Women, a national law affirming CEDAW principles that women and girl’s rights are human rights.  It also reinforced the gender mainstreaming mandate, both in policies and in budgets.

While we celebrate our national and collective gains, our optimism for the future is tempered by the challenges that persist for many women and girls, such as human trafficking, sexual and reproductive health and rights, poverty, economic empowerment and protection of migrant workers.

New challenges have also emerged. These include ICT-related violence against women and girls, crises brought on by armed conflict and natural disasters, challenges of increased human mobility, and the disastrous impacts of climate change.

These challenges threaten to slow down, undermine or even reverse progress we have made. In this regard, we laud the Political Declaration adopted today for its commitment to the processes and avenues in the post-2015 development agenda to address these challenges and accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Platform and its review outcomes.

We are uniquely positioned to contribute to the formulation of the post-2015 development agenda. Sustainable and inclusive development can only be realized with the stand-alone development goal on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. This should be complemented by a comprehensive approach that protects and upholds the human rights of women and girls.

The Philippines strongly reaffirms its commitment to be at the forefront in the respect, protection, and fulfillment of the human rights of women and girls as enshrined in CEDAW and in the Beijing Platform for Action.

Thank you.