“We also recognize the critical importance of protecting our women and girls from violence and discrimination. Papua New Guinea is taking a proactive approach through education, advocacy and legislation to prevent gender-based violence. We have made violence against women and girls a crime punishable by law.

“A testament to the success of this measure is that more girls are enrolling in primary and upper levels of education with an increasing high retention level. More women are also increasingly employed, recognized and given higher responsibilities in our public and private sectors.

“To date, we have reported to the Human Rights Council on work done relating to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in July 2010.”

“In our experience, societies are stronger when women are fully able to take part in the political and economic lives of their countries, when their voices are heard, their choices respected.”

“Papua New Guinea is committed to gender empowerment and equality. We recognize women and girls, not only as key national development partners but whose inherent human dignity must be respected and safeguarded. This is a central pillar of our Constitution and a core value of our national development roadmap.”

“Additionally, reports of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women in 2012 and the Special Rapporteur on Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 2010 are being considered by the Government.”

“Such a rights-based approach is about placing people – men and women – at the center and in charge of their own development. And let me add – for a woman also the right to decide over her own body.”

“As a further indication of our commitment to protect the rights of migrants, the Philippines will be co-hosting a GFMD regional meeting in Manila on “International Migrant Domestic Care Workers at the Interface of Migration and Development” later this month, with the support of UN Women, ILO and IOM."

“We are also instituting measures to enhance the role and status of women, and in strengthening their protection, through the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), whose foundation predates the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), through the key legislation of the Magna Carta of Women and through the Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development (PPGRD) 1995-2015.”

“As a founding and current member of the Human Rights Council, the Philippines works with other members of the Council to safeguard the human rights of vulnerable groups such as migrants, women and children, the youth and the elderly, indigenous peoples, and persons with disabilities.