The Commission on Human Rights on Wednesday cited the role of women in defending human rights while addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Women and girls have shown courage and leadership in responding to the [health] crisis in various fields,” said Commissioner Karen Gomez Dumpit, the focal commissioner for Gender and Women’s Rights.
“In the Philippines, women human rights defenders address not only the challenges brought about by this crisis but also continue to call for accountability; resisting impunity and misogyny; and continue the fight against systemic barriers to gender equality,” she added.
The CHR dedicated this year’s celebration of the National Women’s Month to all women who continue to stand at the frontlines in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and in the face of rampant human rights violations.
The commission’s theme is ‘Women Can: Courage and Leadership for Gender Equality in a COVID-19 World’ which is aligned with that of the Philippine Commission on Women – “Juana Laban sa Pandemya: Kaya!”
Dumpit stressed how the pandemic has worsened the struggles of women, especially those confronted with inequality, exclusion and other forms of human rights violations.
“As we celebrate Women’s Month, the Commission calls for gender justice in the government’s COVID-19 recovery plan, including vaccine rollouts. We remind the government to ensure that measures are adopted to ensure that women and girls and sectors facing multiple vulnerabilities are prioritized,” she said.
“We join the call for food security and economic justice, as many urban poor and rural women continue to face hunger and unemployment. We continue the call for enhanced access to justice and the elimination of all forms violence against women. We call out all forms of red-tagging, silencing of women’s organizations and women leaders, and other acts that limit the women’s political participation,” she added.