CEDAW/C/SR.328 English Page 4 15. Lastly, while the Government had done a great deal to promote women’s participation in decision-making in the governmental sector, affirmative action measures were needed to achieve results in the private sector. 16. Ms. FERRER GÓMEZ said that she was concerned at the difficulties faced by the central Government in ensuring that national plans and policies were implemented at the local level. There was a need to raise awareness and monitor compliance on the part of local authorities. 17. Ms. AOUIJ said that the Committee’s task had been facilitated considerably by the Government’s frank recognition of the problems that remained to be addressed. Attention should be paid to two areas in particular: first, the laws were badly drafted and not yet systematically enforced. The State’s primary responsibility was to ensure equality before the law by repealing or amending discriminatory legislation. Filling gaps in the law, such as the lack of specific legislation prohibiting violence against women, would contribute to changing public attitudes. 18. Second, the situation of migrant workers, over 60 per cent of whom were women, must be addressed through specific machinery at the national level, perhaps within the Ministry of Labour. Her country, Tunisia, had set an example in that regard; many of its citizens worked abroad, and a special office had been established to provide workers, prior to their departure, with an understanding of their rights and obligations under a foreign legal system. 19. Ms. NICOLAS (Philippines), replying to the questions raised, said that she would convey the Committee’s comments and suggestions to her Government. 20. The lack of a monitoring system was one of the most formidable challenges faced by her Government. Efforts had been made to develop monitoring criteria for government agencies based on the establishment of gender goals, administrative guidelines, enabling mechanisms and specific programmes and projects; those proposals, however, had been rejected by the President and the Cabinet. A new, self-monitoring mechanism was currently being devised. 21. With regard to the Local Government Code, decentralization posed a dilemma for her Government: whether to concentrate on monitoring at the national or the regional level. The national leadership was having difficulty in empowering local government units. 22. While the current laws on prostitution were defective, decriminalizing prostitution was seen as tantamount to legalizing it, although non-governmental organizations favoured decriminalization. 23. Lastly, as abortion was explicitly outlawed by the Constitution, her Government could not propose a bill to overturn the ban without a constitutional amendment. 24. Ms. FELICIANO (Philippines), replying to a question raised by Ms. Shalev, said that, as indicated by her Government in its reply to question No. 139, the sale of contraceptives was not unlawful.