CEDAW/C/PHI/CO/6 5. The Committee notes with appreciation the adoption of laws which contribute to the enhanced implementation of the Convention. They include the AntiTrafficking in Persons Act of 2003, the Anti-Violence against Women and Their Children Act of 2004, the Family Courts Act of 1997, the Rape Victims Assistance Act of 1998, the Indigenous People’s Rights Act of 1997 and the Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act of 1997. 6. The Committee welcomes the Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development 1995-2025, which intends to translate the Convention and the Beijing Platform for Action into policies, strategies, programmes and projects for Filipino women. 7. The Committee commends the State party for providing pre-departure information and support services to overseas Filipino workers who migrate on a legal basis. Principal areas of concern and recommendations 8. While recalling the State party’s obligation to systematically and continuously implement all the provisions of the Convention, the Committee views the concerns and recommendations identified in the present concluding comments as requiring the State party’s priority attention until the submission of the next periodic report. Consequently, the Committee calls upon the State party to focus on those areas in its implementation activities and to report on action taken and results achieved in its next periodic report. It calls on the State party to submit the present concluding comments to all relevant ministries and to Congress so as to ensure their full implementation. 9. The Committee notes with regret that it did not receive a fully satisfactory explanation regarding the status of the Convention in the national legal system. The Committee is also concerned that there is no definition of discrimination in line with article 1 of the Convention, encompassing both direct and indirect discrimination, in national legislation. 10. The Committee requests the State party to clarify, in its next periodic report, the status of the Convention in the national legal system, including which provisions would prevail in case of a conflict between the Convention and a national law. The Committee urges the State party to ensure that the Convention becomes fully applicable in the national legal system, and that a definition of discrimination in line with article 1 of the Convention is included in national law. 11. While the Convention has been in force in the State party for 25 years, the Committee notes with great concern the lack of progress in undertaking and completing necessary revisions of discriminatory provisions in national legislation and in enacting a comprehensive legal framework pertaining to gender equality. In particular, the Committee is concerned that the Magna Carta for Women Bill, the Marital Infidelity Bill and several other bills aimed at amending the Family Code, the Civil Code and the Revised Penal Code are still pending. The Committee is particularly concerned about existing discriminatory provisions of the Code of Muslim Personal Laws, which permit marriage of girls under the age of 18, polygamy and arranged marriages. 2 06-48052