In 1973, however, the country’s former Senator and veteran diplomat Leticia Ramos-Shahani was instrumental in the crafting of an international bill of rights for women. This instrument was adopted by the UN in 1979, entered in to force in 1981, recorded as the second most ratified treaty, and came to be known as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The core principles of CEDAW are nondiscrimination, State obligations or due diligence, and substantive equality which includes equality of opportunities, means and results. The CEDAW addresses intersectionality by covering issues of gender stereotyping, sex trafficking, participation in political, economic, social and public life, nationality laws, education, employment, health care, rural women marriage and family relations and equality before the law. There is, however, no mention on violence and in particular gender-based violence in the CEDAW. A focus on violence only came in through General Recommendation (GR) 19 on Violence Against Women (1992) and a more recent GR 35 on GBV; Violence as Discrimination; and the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women (DEVAW).  GR 19 provides that discrimination includes gender-based violence, that is, violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately. It includes acts that inflict physical, mental or sexual harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty.  GR 35, an expansion of GR 19, covers Gender Based Violence and as such gives voice to structural causes of GBV and effects of prejudice and stereotypes; expands on intersecting forms of violence; complicity of global north for perseverance of GBV, denial of RH as GBV.  Article 1 of DEVAW defines "violence against women" as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. Article 2indicates the scope of violence against women. Particularly for the Philippines, the Magna Carta of Women is a localization of the CEDAW and provides for (1) Women Empowerment: (a) protection from violence; (b) women empowerment provisions; (c) empowerment of marginalized women, and for (2) Institutional Mechanisms: (a) those pertaining to GAD audit/plan/budget; (b) GAD Data Base; (c) establishment of GFPS; (d) GAD Code/gender considerations in planning; (e) GFPOs in embassies and consulates. In summary, women’s rights and gender based-violence are provided for in the following (a) international instrument: and (b) domestic policies and mechanisms: (1) CEDAW (2) RA 7877 Anti-Sexual Harassment Law • GR 19 VAW (1991) (3) RA 8353 Rape as Crime against persons • GR 35 GBV (2017) (4) RA 8505 Support and protection for victims of rape • KTV (2010); RPB (2014) (5) RA 9262 Anti-VAWC Law (6) RA 9710 Magna Carta of Women (7) Garcia vs. Drilon (2013) See Annex 3.1 for the Presentation Slides 11