The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) lauds the filling of Senate Bill No. 2372, also known as the proposed Gender-Responsive and Inclusive Pandemic and Disaster Management Act.
Senate Bill No. 2732 recognises the gendered impacts of pandemics and other health concerns, emergencies, and disasters to women and girl-children, and seeks better protection for them through gender responsive and inclusive protocols and programming.
As we also adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards gender-based violence, abuse and exploitation—which which is rooted in gender inequality and discrimination, we echo the stance of the proposed law that approaches and strategies relevant to disaster risk reduction, emergency, and pandemic management must integrate human rights and gender lenses.
As the country’s Gender Ombud, the Commission fully supports this proposed measure mandating the establishment of mechanisms that ensure women’s access to justice, especially for victim-survivors of gender-based violence, and all women and girls in conflict with the law. Similarly, at-risk individuals and groups including the most vulnerable and disadvantaged women are afforded basic humanitarian, health, and social services to guarantee their security, well-being, and protection.
This policy emphasises the overall State duty to enforce the protection of human rights and guarantee the participation and leadership of women during pandemics and disasters in developing preventive and recovery measures until the society adapts to the new normal. Likewise, it outlines the responsibility of different line agencies in implementing national preparedness and response plan to address the gender-differentiated needs of women during a pandemic or disaster.
The CHR has high hopes that this proposed legislation will be urgently enacted to address the pressing needs of women and children, especially now that we are still in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. We cannot afford to do business as usual as we must shift the recovery efforts to mitigate setbacks in gender equality, while we build a more inclusive, just, and humane Philippine society. ###