21 Nov UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and Human Rights Committee Issue Recommendations on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights including Support for Decriminalization of Abortion
This October, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) released its 2022 Concluding Observations after completing its thorough evaluation of the Philippines. The results, while a sad reflection of the state of human rights in the country as a whole, also indicate a step in the right direction for the Philippines and the campaign for access to mental health services, children’s rights, and reproductive health rights, and it is a step that we at PINSAN welcome and support.
In its Concluding Observations, the CRC recommends the adoption of “a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health [SRH] policy for adolescents and ensure sexual and reproductive health education at school, with special attention to preventing early pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS and on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
The CRC urged the country to “ensure that adolescents have access to modern contraception, and confidential testing and HIV treatment without parental consent,” and in a welcome sign for the campaign for progressive legislation, “legalise abortion and ensure access to safe abortion and post-abortion care services for adolescent girls, making sure that their views are always heard and given due consideration as a part of the decision-making process, and develop and implement a policy to protect the rights of pregnant teenagers.”
Maya Vicencio, a young person from Family Planning Organization of the Philippines commented that “It is high time that issues of the youth be voiced out, and more so, addressed. The past years in the pandemic saw an increase in youth seeking SRH services and yet the mechanisms in place make it difficult for them to access such. We take these recommendations and urge our lawmakers to work harmoniously to develop appropriate solutions and tangible action points.”
Maya further adds, “we appreciate the feedback and perspective of the committee and its keen response to SRH needs catered to young persons. We also take this opportunity to urge fellow youth to be active in the advancement of their sexual and reproductive health care and rights.”
PINSAN’s Atty. Jihan Jacob, Senior Legal for Asia of the Center for Reproductive Rights stressed that, “These CRC recommendations strongly echo the campaigns championed by PINSAN, particularly the decriminalization of abortion. This is also the first time that the CRC, in its review of the Philippines, called on the state party to legalise abortion in the country.”
PINSAN’s spokesperson Atty. Clara Rita A. Padilla and Executive Director of EnGendeRights says “Many adolescent girls are subjected to sexual assaults and they lack access to information and services to contraceptives and reproductive services, hence, they are disproportionately impacted by the restrictive abortion law. Adolescent girls are at risk of dying due to complications from their risky pregnancies and childbirth. I urge Filipinos to support the decriminalization of abortion. Join us in this urgent effort to save women’s and girls’ lives.”
More broadly, the CRC urges the country to “Increase the representation of women in decision-making positions at all levels of the executive, legislative and judicial branches and in the private sector.”
The CRC recommendations were echoed by another UN treaty body in early November. The UN Human Rights Committee issued its Concluding Observations which emphasized the need for legislature to observe and protect reproductive rights, and particularly, to repeal laws that punish both those who undergo and provide abortion procedures.
The HRC finds that “abortion remains criminalized in the State party, which leads women to seek out clandestine abortion services that endanger their lives and health.”
Another point of concern for the HRC are “reports of harassment against women and girls who have or seek abortions and of routine interrogation and recording by hospital staff of those who seek post-abortion health care.”
The HRC recommends that the country “amend its legislation to guarantee safe, legal and effective access to abortion where the life and health of the pregnant woman or girl is at risk, or where carrying a pregnancy to term would cause the pregnant woman or girl substantial pain or suffering, most notably where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest or where the pregnancy is not viable.”
Furthermore, the HRC suggests that legislators “repeal the criminal penalties imposed upon women and girls who undergo abortions and upon medical service providers who help them to do so.”
Another area of improvement the HRC found was the strengthening of the provision of sexual and reproductive health services, including post-abortion healthcare in all circumstances on a confidential basis, especially for rural women, women living in poverty, women with disabilities and women from ethnic or religious minorities.”
“This is not the first time that concerns and recommendations of this nature have been expressed by the HRC in its review of the Philippines. In 2012, the HRC also called for the amendment of the country’s abortion laws and the accessibility of reproductive health information and services for all women and adolescents. Since then, the government has not taken any significant stride to advance abortion access and fully realize the right to sexual and reproductive health. We have been seeing how people from vulnerable groups and communities disproportionately suffer from the harms of these ongoing barriers to SRH and the HRC reaffirmed this. Progress is lagging and they are being left behind. The government must address challenges specific to their circumstances.” says Jacob.
The UN Member States who ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights are regularly reviewed by the CRC and HRC respectively. The last time that the Philippines was reviewed by the CRC was in 2009 and by the HRC in 2012.
PINSAN fully supports the findings and recommendations of the CRC and the HRC. The decriminalization of abortion is a matter of reproductive health rights, and to protect these rights will greatly impact the lives of women and children alike.
PINSAN’s commitment to strengthen ties with allies to fight for progressive legislation shall never waver, and this year’s CRC and HRC Concluding Observations supporting the decriminalization of abortion is indeed a positive step. This bolsters the campaign for the full range of sexual and reproductive health and rights. We call on child rights activists, the government and other allies to join this urgent campaign to decriminalize abortion.