As delivered
With me as co-head of this delegation is Ambassador Rosario G. Manalo, our
leading expert and champion on women. As you all know, she was just elected as
one of the new members of the Committee and is set to join you in January next
year.
Also with me are senior officials of the Philippine government agencies who
are in the frontlines in the promotion and protection of women’s human rights.
These agencies are the Departments of Social Welfare and Development;
Labor
and
Employment;
Health;
and
Justice;
the
Overseas
Employment
Administration; the Commission on Higher Education, the Indigenous Peoples’
Commission; and our socio-economic planning body--NEDA. And from the
Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, we have no less than the chair of the
Regional Commission on Bangsamoro Women.
Our delegation is also fortunate to be guided by esteemed women’s rights
advocates, Prof. Aurora Javate-de Dios, Philippine representative to the ASEAN
Commission on Women’s and Children’s Rights and former CEDAW Member, and
Ms. Emmeline Verzosa, Executive Director of the Philippine Commission on Women,
the lead agency that ensures the State’s effective implementation of the CEDAW.
Madam Chair,
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