CEDAW/C/PHL/CO/7-8 (f) The lack of disaggregated data on gender-based violence against women in the context of displacement, armed conflict, disaster, migration and trafficking situations, as well as on gender-based violence against women with disabilities. 26. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Adopt comprehensive legislation on gender-based violence against women covering all forms of violence; (b) Expedite the amendment of the Anti-Rape Law of 1997, putting lack of consent as the primary element of the definition of rape and raising the minimum age of sexual consent, currently set too low at 12 years, to at least 16 years; (c) Strengthen its response to online sexual exploitation and abuse of children, including through the implementation of the statement of action by Governments to tackle online child sexual exploitation, issued at the #WePROTECT Children Online summit held in Abu Dhabi in 2015, and adopt pending bills expanding the definition of sexual harassment to include peer sexual harassment and cyberharassment; (d) Prevent, investigate and punish all forms of gender-based violence, in particular sexual violence perpetrated by State and non-State actors, apply a zero-tolerance policy to combat impunity and provide necessary support to women and girls who are at risk or victims of such violence, including during times of armed conflict, in line with the Committee’s general recommendation No. 30 (2013) on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations; (e) Address the root causes of the vulnerability of women and girls to violence, including poverty, inequality in family relations, insecurity, and discriminatory stereotypes; (f) Systematically collect comprehensive and disaggregated data on gender-based violence against women in displacement, armed conflict, disaster, migration and trafficking situations, as well as on gender-based violence against women with disabilities. Trafficking and exploitation of prostitution 27. The Committee welcomes the efforts made by the State party to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, in particular women and girls, including the adoption of the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012, which provides for more severe penalties for traffickers and decriminalizes victims of trafficking, the establishment of the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking and the launch of the Philippine Anti-Trafficking in Persons Database. Nevertheless, the Committee notes with concern that the State party remains a source country for international and internal trafficking, including for sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude and organ transplantation. In this regard, the Committee is concerned: (a) That the current legislative framework against trafficking in persons does not explicitly cover contemporary methods, such as online matchmaking, which can be used as a tool for trafficking in persons; 16-12874 7/16

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