by Joel dela Torre
from People’s Journal

MARKING the United Nations Day for Women and International Peace today, the Commission on Human Rights called on government to improve protection and programs for the rights of women.

The CHR said that women and girls as human beings are entitled  along with men and boys to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, thus the need for the quick passage into law of the Magna Carta for Women aside from strengthening the application of the law on violence against women and children.

Because there are certain issues that are more problematic for women than men, they need stronger protection, CHR chairperson Leila de Lima said.

The main issues that threaten the rights of women in the Philippines include domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, extrajudicial killings, unequal job opportunities, internal displacement due to armed conflict, health care including reproductive health, education and literacy, and proper treatment in the criminal justice system.

“Equality and non-discrimination are not achieved by having gender-neutral laws per se, or by having laws that are ‘equally applicable to men and women, instead, equality and non-discrimination are fulfilled by having laws that, in their implementation allow both genders to live their lives in dignity and in full enjoyment of their human rights,” De Lima said.

The CHR chief urged President Macapagal-Arroyo to sign into law at the soonest possible time the Magna Carta for Women, which covers a wide range of matters pertaining to women which make up about half of the national population.

The Senate passed the bill on the Magna Carta just before International Women’s Day.