CEDAW/C/SR.1405 51. Ms. Verzosa (Philippines) said that various legislative provisions addressed violence against women, such as the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law, which was to be amended to cover peer harassment, and the Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act. While no consideration had been given to the development of a comprehensive law to cover all forms of violence against women, the Government might initiate discussions on the formulation of legislation to protect specific groups of marginalized women, such as internally displaced women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons. The Inter-Agency Council on Violence against Women and their Children had been established to address violence and operated in cooperation with various ministries to strengthen implementation of preventive and protection measures and awareness-raising. The National Demographic and Health Survey included data on the forms of violence committed against women, with the 2013 Survey revealing that a fifth of women between the ages of 15 and 49 had been abused. The Survey would be conducted in 2017 to determine the impact of current measures in that area. Violence against women desks had been set up in 87 per cent of villages throughout the country to provide women with access to remedies at local level, and systems were being developed in cooperation with the Women’s Sectoral Council to assess the impact of those desks. Training was provided to desk officers on how to treat women victims of violence. In addition, the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking and the Inter-Agency Council against Child Pornography had been established with a view to channelling efforts to combat crimes in those areas. Although there was no legislation in place to address stalking, ordinances existed which dealt with street harassment. 52. Ms. Pajarito (Philippines) said that the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, adopted in 2013, was constantly under review and covered offences involving mail-order brides. Discussions were under way with stakeholders concerning data collection on trafficking in persons with a view to identifying the most affected regions. The InterAgency Council against Trafficking currently gathered data on the numbers of reported victims, the number availing themselves of national legal and social services and the number of trafficking cases brought before the courts. 53. The Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking guidelines for combating trafficking in persons at international airports had been implemented in 2012 and revised in July 2015. Under the guidelines, the Bureau of Immigration had the authority to defer a passenger’s travel from airports and seaports on one of three grounds: being in possession of fraudulent travel documents; having a doubtful purpose for travel; or being identified as a possible victim of trafficking. In cases where a possible victim was identified, the person was referred to the Task Force against Trafficking in Persons. As a result of that preventive measure, the annual number of travel deferrals had risen from around 850 in 2012 to just under 4,000 in 2015. The Commission on Filipinos Overseas also ran pre-departure guidance programmes for Filipino women who were spouses, fiancées or partners of foreign nationals or former Filipino nationals and referred any persons identified as possible victims of trafficking either to the Task Force or to the relevant law enforcement agency. The Commission, in partnership with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and recruitment agencies, also ran mandatory pre-employment orientation seminars, both in person and online, which had benefited more than 340,000 people. The Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking had a “public assistance corner” section on its website, where people could submit queries and complaints. 54. While the 44 women’s shelters around the country currently accepted women who had been the victims of different forms of violence, the Inter-agency Council against Trafficking intended to build during 2016 a processing centre solely for male, female and child victims of human trafficking. Pending the completion of that facility, a temporary processing centre had been set up, with the building provided free of charge by a faithbased group and the operating costs covered by the Government. Social workers were 10 GE.16-11608