Geneva, September 13, 2022 — The Philippines is set to engage the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in a 2-day constructive dialogue on 13-14 September on the State’s implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). 
 
The Philippines ratified the CRC in August 1990 and has engaged the UNCRC, composed of 18 independent expert, every five years since then. 
 
The Philippine delegation is headed by USec. Angelo Tapales, executive director of the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC).  Co-heading the delegation are Ambassador Evan Garcia, permanent representative of the Philippine Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva, and USec. Severo Catura, executive director of the Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat.  
 
With them are representatives of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Justice, Department of Health, Philippine National Police-Women and Children Protection Center, Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council, Philippine Commission on Women, and the Supreme Court Office of the Court Administrator.
 
“We have always accorded high importance to our human rights commitments as you can glean from our engagement with stakeholders both at the international and national level,” Usec. Tapales said. “We, at the Council for the Welfare of Children, will continue to support human rights, particularly children's rights. After all, children's rights are human rights," he added.
 
“The UN engagement is an opportunity to put forward the real and positive picture of the human rights environment in the Philippines, given that we have so much to be proud of and share with the world, among which is on child rights protection,”  USec. Catura explained.  “And equally important is, we are able to convey the essential message that the promotion, protection and fulfillment of the human rights of Filipino citizens, especially the most vulnerable, are always high on the priority list of the Philippines’ governance agenda,” he concluded.
 
The two-day event will be live-streamed on the UN Web TV (https://media.un.org/en/webtv). The first day of constructive dialogue will happen on 13 September at 3:00 PM (Geneva time) or 9:00 PM (Manila Time). The second day will be on 14 September at 10:00 AM (Geneva time) or 4:00 PM (Manila time). — Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat