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Full 18-Page Text: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/PHL/CEDAW_C_OP-8_PHL_1_7679_E.pdf
United Nations |
CEDAW/C/OP.8/PHL/1 |
Convention on Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against
Women Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women Summary of the inquiry
concerning the Philippines under article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women _________________________________________________________________________ |
22 April 2015 Original: English English, French and Spanish
only ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION |
IV. Recommendations
49. In accordance with its
jurisprudence and its General Recommendation No. 24, the Committee recalls that
the practical realization of substantive equality requires accommodating the
specific, distinct health needs and interests of women including those relating
to their fertility and entails respecting, protecting, and fulfilling26 women’s
reproductive rights, by providing them with universal access to a full range of
contraceptives and related information, as well as counselling, and services.
26 See in particular para. 37 of General Recommendation
No. 24 (1999) on women and health:” The duty of States parties to ensure, on a
basis of equality between men and women, access to health care services,
information and education implies an obligation to respect, protect and fulfil
women's rights to health care” and that “States parties have the responsibility
to ensure that legislation and executive action and policy comply with these
three obligations”.
50. In light of the findings of
the present report and in line with relevant recommendations addressed to the
State party by other United Nations bodies, the Committee refers to its
previous concluding observations and its General Recommendations Nos. 21, 24
and 28, and makes the following recommendations to the State party.
a)
Institutional
and legal framework
51. The Committee calls on
the State party to:
i. Fully enforce the Magna
Carta of Women and its Implementing Rules and Regulations which guarantee,
inter alia, women’s access to effective methods of family planning.
ii. Upon the disposal of the
constitutional challenges before the Supreme Court and if declared
constitutional, ensure the immediate implementation of the Reproductive Health
Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations, including provisions that
guarantee universal access to the full range of reproductive health services
and information for women, especially for economically disadvantaged women;
ensure that the decentralization of health services and autonomy of local
government units do not constitute barriers to the implementation of the new
legal framework and establish mechanisms at all levels of government to ensure
its strict enforcement throughout the territory of the State party.
iii. Complete, without delay
and within a fixed timeframe, the review of remaining discriminatory laws
and/or regulations in the field of reproductive health, as required by the
Magna Carta, and modify or repeal such provisions where necessary.
iv. Ensure that Executive
Orders 003 and 030 are officially revoked, as a matter of urgency, and that
health care providers, as well as the general public, in particular women, are
timely and duly informed of such revocation.
v. Amend articles 256 to 259
of its Criminal Code in order to legalize abortion in cases of rape, incest,
threats to the life and/or health of the mother, or serious malformation of the
foetus and decriminalize all other cases where CEDAW/C/OP.8/PHL/1 women undergo abortion, as well as
adopt necessary procedural rules to guarantee effective access to legal
abortion.
vi.
Reinforce the existing national machinery, i.e. the Philippine Commission on
Women, by strengthening its mandate, authority and visibility, as well as its
human, financial and technical resources, to monitor compliance by local
governments with international standards and national laws concerning the
provision of reproductive health services; consider decentralising its activity
by establishing regional offices; and enhance its coordination with the
Department of Health, the Department of Interior and Local Government and the
Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines in the area of reproductive
health.
vii. In
line with its duty under the provisions of the Magna Carta on the promotion and
protection of women’s rights, consider broadening the mandate of the Commission
on Human Rights to allow it to receive complaints and to provide remedies in
cases of violations of, in particular, women’s reproductive rights; provide the
Commission with adequate financial, human and technical resources to ensure
that it can effectively discharge its current and additional functions; and
take all necessary measures to ensure its full financial autonomy.
viii. In
light of the decentralization of health services to local government units,
establish effective monitoring and oversight mechanisms, as provided for in the
Local Government Code, to ensure (1) that reproductive health related
legislation, strategies and policies adopted and implemented by local
government units strictly comply with the State party’s obligations under the
Convention, that they are based on scientific evidence and do not discriminate
against women in practice, (2) the availability, accessibility and
affordability of reproductive health services and commodities at all levels of
government, throughout the territory of the State party.
ix.
Strengthen existing coordination and reporting mechanisms between the
Department of Health, its regional health centers and the health departments of
local government units to ensure the implementation of national strategies and
policies relating to sexual and reproductive health.
x. Ensure
that local government units put in place effective legal remedies for women
seeking redress for violations of their right of access to sexual and
reproductive health services; ensure that the courts adjudicate on cases
involving women’s sexual and reproductive health rights without undue delay;
and remove the barriers that women are facing in accessing justice.
xi. Ensure
that the Convention, the Committee’s General Recommendations, the Optional
Protocol and the views of the Committee under the Optional Protocol be made an
integral part of the education and training of judges, lawyers and prosecutors
at the national, regional and municipal levels, with a view to ensuring the
effective application of women’s health rights, including relevant provisions
of the Magna Carta and the Reproductive Health Act.
xii. In
line with its Constitution providing for the separation of the Church and the
State, ensure that State policies and legislation give priority to the
protection of women’s health rights, in particular their sexual and
reproductive health rights, over any religious postulates that may lead to de
facto or de jure discrimination against women and negatively impact
their access to sexual and reproductive health services, commodities and
information, including by designing strategies to sensitize members of
parliament, government officials, political parties, as well as local government’s
executive and legislative, with a CEDAW/C/OP.8/PHL/1
view to eliminating all ideological barriers limiting
women’s access to sexual reproductive health services, commodities and
information.
b)
Sexual
and reproductive health rights and services
52. The
Committee further urges that the State party:
i. Address the unmet need
for contraception, especially in the City of Manila, with a particular focus on
economically disadvantaged women and adolescent girls, by ensuring (1)
universal and affordable access to the full range of sexual and reproductive
health services, commodities and related information, which must include the
availability of the safest and most technologically advanced methods of
contraception, including oral contraception and emergency contraception,
intra-uterine devices and ligation services and (2) adequate provision in
national and local government budgets for sufficient supply of such
contraceptive methods in all public health facilities, with a particular focus
on local government units with low contraceptive prevalence rate; take all
necessary measures to remove all economic and structural barriers that result
in unequal access to sexual and reproductive health services, including
limitations pertaining to women’s marital status, age and number of children;
and consider expanding the public health insurance system to cover the costs of
modern contraceptive methods.
ii. Ensure
that non-biased, scientifically sound and rights-based counseling and
information on sexual and reproductive health services, including on all
methods of contraception, are provided in all governmental, provincial and
municipal health facilities in the State party to address rampant
misinformation and to ensure that women can make informed decisions about the number
and spacing of children and do not have to resort to unsafe abortions.
iii.
Reintroduce emergency contraception in the State party, in particular to
prevent early and unplanned pregnancies and in cases of sexual violence, as
well as promote and raise awareness about the benefits of emergency
contraceptives in such situations, particularly among adolescent girls.
iv. Ensure
that systematic training on sexual and reproductive health rights, services and
commodities is provided to healthcare professionals in all public hospitals,
health centers and lying clinics, as well as to community health teams,
especially in the City of Manila, with a view to addressing the loss of
institutional capacity and knowledge, as well as the erosion of skills
resulting from the enforcement of Executive Orders 003 and 030; and monitor the
adequate allocation of funding by local government units for such systematic
training to ensure that it is commensurate with their needs.
v. Provide
women with access to quality post-abortion care in all public health
facilities, especially in case of complications resulting from unsafe
abortions, including by reintroducing misoprostol, in order to reduce women's
maternal mortality and morbidity rates; ensure that women experiencing abortion-related
complications are not reported to the law enforcement authorities, threatened
with arrest, or subjected to physical or verbal abuse, discrimination, stigma,
delays in access to or denial of care; adopt a patient privacy policy to ensure
doctor-patient confidentiality, specifically when treating women for
abortion-related complications; ensure effective reporting procedures,
available for women in need of post-abortion care to complain about abuse and
discrimination, without fear of retaliation; and conduct research on the
incidence of unsafe abortions in the State party and their CEDAW/C/OP.8/PHL/1 impact on women’s health and maternal
mortality and morbidity, and make such information available to the Committee
in its next periodic report.
vi.
Establish a regulatory framework and mechanism for the practice of
conscientious objection by individual health professionals in order to ensure
that such individual practice does not influence women’s decision-making in
relation to their sexual and reproductive health and/or impede their access to
sexual and reproductive health services, and ensure the provision of adequate
sexual and reproductive health services by alternative medical health
personnel.
vii. Ensure
that local government units establish health care protocols and hospital
procedures to prevent and sanction abuse of and discrimination against women,
as well as complaint mechanisms within the decentralized health care systems,
such as specialized investigation and appeal procedures or female health
ombudspersons, to investigate complaints and impose appropriate sanctions on
health care professionals responsible of abuse of and discrimination against
female patients.
viii.
Integrate age-appropriate education on sexual and reproductive health in school
curricula, including comprehensive sex education covering prevention of early
pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases for adolescent girls and boys,
including HIV/AIDS.
ix. Conduct
education and awareness-raising campaigns to enhance women and adolescent
girls’ awareness of sexual and reproductive health rights and services,
especially on the use and the lawfulness of modern contraceptive methods in the
State party, and on the risks related to unsafe abortion. Such campaigns should
also address health-related misconceptions about modern methods of
contraception, as well as gender-based stereotypes discouraging the use of
modern contraceptive methods.
x. Continue seeking
technical support from the international community, as well as financial aid
where relevant, and strengthen its collaboration with and support to civil
society organizations, including women’s organizations, in order to enhance
women’s access to sexual and reproductive health services, commodities, and
information, including by fostering national consultation on these issues.