Manila, May 28 2007 — The national programme launch of the UN Joint Programme to Facilitate the Implementation of the CEDAW Concluding Comments opened the 8th MDG Localization Business Meeting of the UN-HABITAT on May 28, 2007 at the AIM Conference Center, Makati City. The ceremonies, emceed by Luz Rodriguez , UNIFEM CEDAW National Coordinator, was opened by Suneeta Mukherjee, UN Resident Coordinator ad-interim and UNFPA Country Representative who welcomed the participants. Jean D’ Cunha, UNIFEM Regional Programme Director and Managing Agent presented the UN Joint Programme to the forum and symbolically turned over the documents to the UN Country Team representatives which included Linda Worth , ILO Sub-regional Director and Jaime Antonio, Jr., UN-HABITAT MDG Localization Program Coordinator.
NGO, CSO and LGU partners expressed their support to the programme. Among those who delivered messages were Myrna T. Yao, Chairperson, Board of Commissioners, National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW), Froilyn T. Mendoza, Chairperson, Mindanaw Lumad Women Council, Fatima Pir Tillah Allian, Muslim Advocate for Gender and Rights of Women and Children, Trinidad M. Domingo, Chairperson, Pambansang Kilusan ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK) and Sally Ante-Lee, former Sorsogon City Mayor and now Sorsogon governor. The all-female band “Engkantada” provided the appropriate cultural intermissions. A press conference followed.
The Philippines is a state party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) since 1981. The Philippine government rendered its 5th and 6th Combined Progress Report in August 2006 and the CEDAW Concluding Comments was issued thereafter.
The United Nations in the Philippines supports the Philippine government through the National Commission on the Role Women and its partners in government and women non-government organizations in improving its compliance to the Women’s Convention. Hence various UN agencies put together the Joint Programme to facilitate the implementation of the 2006 Concluding Comments of CEDAW for the Philippines from 2006 to 2009.
The components of the program are the harmonization of the national legal system with CEDAW, capacity building among national government agencies and civil society partners to address priority areas of women’s human rights, demonstrating sectoral and local application of CEDAW on the rights of indigenous, Muslim and rural women in selected local communities, and reinforcing the capacities of UN staff to mainstream gender and human rights in their development programming.
Elisea Gozun, Officer-in-Chargeof the National Executive Board, League of Cities of the Philippines presided over the 1 st day of the 3-day Business Meeting which included the launching of the UN-HABITAT knowledge products (Barangay Development Planning Manual Using the Rights-Based Approach, the MDG-Focused Disaster Mitigation Toolkits and the UN-HABITAT website). The day concluded with the round-table discussion with newly-elected officials Sorsogon Governor Sally Ante-Lee and Butuan City Mayor Democrito Plaza III on the MDGs and the 2007 elections.
