The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has urged local government units (LGUs) to adopt the “fruitful efforts” being done in Quezon City for the protection of the rights of women and children.
"By defending the rights and dignity of women and children, local governments can foster the development and stability of families, communities, and societies as a whole,” the CHR said in a statement issued on Monday, Feb. 6.
It said it “extends due recognition to the Quezon City government for embodying the principles promoted by the Philippines' Magna Carta of Women, the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol (OP-CEDAW), the Yogyakarta Principles, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, among others.”
Earlier, the Regional Inter-agency Monitoring Team (RIMT) of the Department of the Interior and Local Government-National Capital Region (DILG-NCR) had given the QC government a score of 100 for an audit covering Performance Year 2021.
One of the things the RIMT highlighted is the innovations and interventions made by QC in addressing Violence Against Women and their Children (VAWC) within the city, the CHR said.
The Quezon City Police District (QCPD), the Quezon City Protection Center, and the Gender and Development Office have increased their efforts in monitoring and responding to reports of VAWC, the CHR said.
Residents of Quezon City were equally encouraged to report abuses against women and children through Hotline 122, or to the barangay and the women’s desks of the QCPD, it said.
It pointed out that the Quezon City Gender and Development Integrated Management Information System, a unified database also known as the "QC VAW Centralized Databank System," was also developed to aid in tracking and responding to reported VAWC cases across 142 barangays and police stations in the city.
It also said that the Quezon City Protection Center for Victims of Gender-Based Violence and Abuse and the “Bahay Kalungan” were also developed as a one-stop crisis center for women, children, and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) community offering multidisciplinary interventions for victims of violence and abuse, and a temporary shelter for victim-survivors of gender-based violence and abuse, respectively.
With these innovations, the CHR expressed hopes that other LGUs will follow suit and make their own good practices in the promotion and protection of rights of women and children, and gender equality.
TAGS: CHR #VAWC #Quezon City government #Bahay Kalungan