ManilaTimes-Mar 16
The Philippines’ first Muslim woman human rights commissioner has urged other countries to ban child marriage as she pressed for the “full enjoyment” of the rights of Muslim women and girls worldwide. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday said that Commissioner Faydah Dumarpa of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has underscored before the United Nations (UN) the importance of advancing the rights and well-being of Muslim women and girls.
Dumarpa made the appeal during the high-level segment of the Conference on Women in Islam on March 8 at the ECOSOC Chamber in the UN headquarters in New York.
She spoke about the rights and identity of women in the Islamic world, the DFA said on Twitter. Dumarpa, the Foreign Affairs department said, had mentioned that the Philippines had passed a law “prohibiting child marriage.”
Then president Rodrigo Duterte signed on Dec. 10, 2021 Republic Act 11596 or the “Prohibition of Child Marriage Law.” The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that according to the 2017 Philippine National Demographic and Health Survey, 1 in 6 Filipino girls are married before they are 18 years old or the legal age of majority.
“Globally, the Philippines ranks 12th in the absolute number of child marriages,” UNICEF said. Read more at:
