CRPD/C/PHL/CO/1
(b)
The overall exclusion of women with disabilities, in particular women and
girls with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, as well as those from indigenous peoples
and other ethnic and religious minorities, in decision-making processes concerning matters
affecting them.
13.
The Committee recommends that the State party take into account the
Committee’s general comment No. 3 (2016) on women and girls with disabilities and:
(a)
Strengthen data collection and publication of the human rights situation
of women and girls with disabilities with a view to developing the appropriate policies
to combat sex and gender-based discrimination;
(b)
Ensure that general legislation about gender equality and disabilityrelated legislation mainstream the rights of women and girls with disabilities. The
State party should reinforce the application of the Compendium of Monitoring and
Evaluation Indicators on gender equality and women’s empowerment in all processes
related to legislation and public policy reform;
(c)
Ensure that the Philippine Commission on Women, and the Commission
on Human Rights of the Philippines allocate specific human, technical and budgetary
resources for the advancement of the rights of women and girls with disabilities, and
promote full participation of organizations of women with disabilities in their work;
(d)
Undertake consultations with women and girls with disabilities with a
view to using these as a basis for implementing law reform and policy changes, with
particular attention to their family lives, education, health services, employment and
all forms of gender-based violence against women, as well as discriminatory practices;
(e)
Consider the obligations of the Convention in implementing measures to
achieve targets 5.1, 5.2 and 5.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
14.
The Committee is concerned about the high level of gender-based violence against
women and girls with disabilities, including sexual violence and abuse. In particular, it is
concerned about the research data of organizations of persons with disabilities, which show
that rape cases filed by women and girls who are deaf or hard of hearing outnumber all
other types of complaints of women with disabilities, by a factor of 10 to 1. It is further
concerned about violence against women and girls with psychosocial disabilities, as they
are overrepresented in the Supreme Court cases about gender-based violence.
15.
The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a)
Establish a time frame and a strategy to protect women and girls with
disabilities against all forms of gender-based violence, and prohibit all forms of
gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities, including violence
within the family;
(b)
Provide women and girls with disabilities with accessible information
and reporting mechanisms to detect, prevent and combat all forms of violence,
including sexual violence against women and girls with disabilities;
(c)
Adopt measures to provide women with disabilities with redress in cases
of violence, including access to rehabilitation, and compensation.
Children with disabilities (art. 7)
16.
The Committee is concerned about:
(a)
The lack of information about measures to ensure inclusion of children with
disabilities in society, especially so since there are an estimated 3.3 million children with
disabilities in the State party, representing about 8 per cent of the total population;
(b)
The absence of strategies to promote the best interests of the child in actions
concerning children with disabilities;
(c)
The institutionalization of children with disabilities and the separation of
children with disabilities from their families in rural areas while they attend school;
4