Publications

CEDAW Shadow Report: Voices, Choices, Participation and Access to Justice: Weaving the Girl Child’s Experience (2023)

The CEDAW Shadow Report: Voices, Choices, Participation and Access to Justice: Weaving the Girl Child’s Experience (2023) highlights the experiences of marginalized girls–indigenous girls, girls with disabilities, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LBT) girls and girls from rural communities–under a continuum of gender-based violence and discrimination, leading to girls’ experiences of sexual violence, early pregnancy, early and forced marriage, and the use of information and communications technology (ICT) to commit sexual violence.

Read more here.

Enhancing Capacities of VAW and Migration Frontline Workers (2023)

Nais ng module na ito na palalimin ang kaalaman at kapasidad ng ating mga frontline workers tungo sa mas epektibong pagresponde sa mga kababaihang OFW.  Nilalaman nito ang pag-unawa sa mga kababaihang OFW at kanilang karapatang pantao, pagpapalalim sa kaalaman ukol sa karahasan laban sa mga kababaihan, at mga batas at rekurso kaugnay dito. 

Maaaring mabasa ang kabuohan dito. 

Nothing About Us Without Us: Amplifying voices of marginalized sectors in Masbate, Samar, and Zambales (2019)

“Ang unang nawawala sa babae ay boses. Nawawala ang kapangyarihan ng salita. Kapag hinayaan ito, hindi lamang ito ang mawawala sa [babae]”

– Pagaduan, Maureen. (2018, September 07). Pagsasanay ng mga Lider-Kababaihan sa Samar. Ginanap sa Behotel, Tacloban City. Unpublished. [Paningit na salita ay mula sa nagsulat]

Matapos ratipikahin ng gobyernong Pilipinas ang CEDAW, maraming mga batas para sa karapatan ng kababaihan ang ipinasa sa Kongreso. Sa kabila nito, ang diskriminasyon, pagsasamantala, at karahasan laban sa kababaihan ay nagpapatuloy sa iba’t-ibang larangan at espasyong kanilang ginagalawan.

Kaya naman para makamit ng kababaihan ang pangako ng mga batas na pantay na karapatan at ligtas na espasyo sa lipunan, ang unang-una nilang dapat maangkin ay BOSES – boses para maisiwalat nila ang araw-araw nilang karanasan ng diskriminasyon; boses para magkaroon sila ng espayo sa mga programa, proyekto, at mga usaping komunidad na apektado sila; boses para  makasama sila sa pagpapasya sa mga usapin sa loob at labas ng kanilang mga tahanan; boses para kilalanin sila bilang produktibong bahagi ng komunidad at ng buong lipunan at boses para
mapalakas ang kanilang samahan sa komunidad.

Maaaring mabasa ang kabuohan dito

Claiming our place, Claiming our rights: A Philippine experience on the OPCEDAW (2011)

In November 2007, the rape of Karen Vertido became the first individual complaint or “communication” known in the Southeast Asian region to be filed under the Optional Protocol of the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (OPCEDAW).

The CEDAW Committee found that the Philippines violated Karen’s rights under the Convention. The Government is supposed to provide Karen “appropriate compensation commensurate with the gravity of the violations of her rights” and to undertake a list of specific measures to address problems in legislation, rape prosecution and court practices that discriminate against rape victims. Significantly, the Philippines is, in effect, asked to make its legislation conform to the prevailing international jurisprudence on rape, such as, for example, the case of M.C. v. Bulgaria (by the European Court of Human Rights) and the decisions of the ad hoc tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

Read more here.

Addressing Rape in the Legal System: A Multidisciplinary Training Manual (2005)

This Manual hopes to contribute to efforts to facilitate the systematic interaction of the law and relevant disciplines in addressing the problem of rape. It hopes to serve not only the need to utilize other disciplines in providing appropriate responses to rape cases, but also, more significantly, the more strategic need to challenge many legal assumptions and postulates that do not reflect, and in fact deny, the experiences and realities of survivors of rape. 

Read more here.

Human Rights, Women’s Rights, and the Law (2003)

This booklet was conceptualized and developed to give readers an orientation on women’s human rights, and the international and Philippine laws relevant to them. The booklet also presents a framework with which to view laws on women, particularly as it addresses women’s realities of discrimination and violence in the family, workplace, community and institutions. The law has the potential to empower women against gender-based discrimination and violence. However, it is also a reality that the law and the legal system themselves could be discriminatory against women.

This booklet is also translated into Cebuano, Ilocano, and Tagalog to widen the reach of information in the country. It is hoped that it will contribute to the continuing efforts of women to fight for and protect their rights, and seek justice for the violations of their rights.

Against Prostitution, for the Women in Prostitution: A Position Paper (1998)

Prostitution is a system whereby women’s bodies and their sexuality are commodified and exploited to satisfy men’s sexual needs. It is a system shaped and controlled by men and their and their representatives. Its modern day form is highly organized and extremely lucrative business. Its operations are undertaken under conditions that are highly exploitative and violative of women’s rights and humanity. It is a kind of business that has managed to enlist State endorsement.

This position paper by the Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc. for SIBOL (Sama-samang Inisyatiba ng Kababaihan sa Pagbabago ng Batas at Lipunan) covers the following topics; the collusion of the government and the business capitalist; the exploitation of women in prostitution; the norm of a male-defined sexuality; violence and sexual exploitation as the organizing principle of prostitution; and policy recommendations using the human rights framework.

Women’s Health and the Law (1997)

This compendium of information was inspired by the need to understand the complicated weave of legislation, policies and programs related to women’s health and advocacy in the Philippines.

The Chapter One of the book provides an overview of women’s health situation in the Philippines. Women’s life cycle does not only focus on reproductive and maternal roles. Women have significant stages like infancy, adolescence, adulthood, midlife and old age. In these periods, there is a prevailing system of gender-based social roles and expectations where women face health realities and problems differently from men. In Chapter Two, SIBOL (Sama-samang Inisyatiba ng Kababaihan sa Pagbabago ng Batas at Lipunan), a local legislative network that pushes for a women centered and women’s human rights framework. This conceptual approach on women’s health integrates concerns on productive health, sexuality gender relations, violence against women, women’s human rights and overall sociocultural representation of women in contemporary Philippine society. While Chapters Three and Four provides the Philippine Government’s commitments on women’s health, international obligations and national legislation, administrative policies and programs.

CEDAW Shadow Report: Duterte-Marcos Legacy to Marginalized Women (2023)

The CEDAW Shadow Report: Duterte-Marcos Legacy to Marginalized Women (2023) highlights the experiences of women in the marginalized sectors–women with disability, women living with HIV/AIDS, women migrants workers, indigenous people (IP) women, and lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women (LBT) women–under the authoritarian regime where sexism, gender biases, gendered disinformation and human rights violations prevail, causing implications to  women’s access to justice.

Read more here.

Kwenta Kwentuhan Kababaihan (2022)

 Ang Kwenta Kwentuhan Kababaihan ay  Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) Material ukol sa mga kwento ng mga karanasan ng kababaihan at ng batang babae, partikular na ang karanasan nila sa pagkakahon o gender stereotyping, diskriminasyon, at karahasan. Ang materyal na ito ay resulta ng mga serye ng capacity building at ang dati nang idinaos na National Girls’ Camp na isinagawa ng WLB kasama ng mga kababaihan at batang babae sa mga kasosyong komunidad nito, na naglalayong palutangin ang kanilang mga kuwento at boses.

Maaaring mabasa ang kabuohan dito.

Upholding Women’s Strengths and Access to Justice in Disaster: Narratives of Women Survivors of Typhoon Yolanda in Samar and Leyte (2017)

In line with the project entitled Access to Justice for Women’s Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR): Enhancing capacities of marginalized groups of women to advocate for women’s rights in the context of disasters, a project implemented from February to October 2016 by the Women’s Legal and Human Rights Bureau, Inc. (WLB) in partnership with Christian Aid Philippines, a documentation of issues, challenges, and experiences of marginalized groups of women in exercising their ESCR was created.

Read more here.

Study on ICT, VAW and Sexuality: A Policy Advocacy (2014)

ICT (information and communication technology) has transformed and revolutionalized Filipino society; it has transformed not only political and economic systems and social interactions, but as well as culture. Through e-commerce, private companies have dominantly benefited from the convergence in applications, content and interactivity of ICT. ICT provided means to ensure efficient basic service delivery and good governance (transparency and accountability), albeit its uneven application in the bureaucracy. Social networks have greatly affected the manner by which Filipinos interact and communicate. In fact, the Philippines is found leading in the Asia Pacific in terms of Social Networking Sites (SNS) engagement.

However, there have been documentations of increasing violations and crimes committed and perpetrated through ICTs. These are realities on the ground, supported by articles and studies. Alongside these harms, ICT having provided spaces for women’s empowerment and exercise of their rights to sexuality and self-expression cannot as well be discounted.

In the light then of these, there is more reason to conduct a study and research on ICT, VAW and Sexuality. There is a need to look into the role of ICT in the perpetration of VAW as well as in terms of providing spaces for women’s empowerment and exercise of their rights to sexuality.

Read more here.

Rape and Human Rights: Issues and Challenges (2005)

Rape as a human rights concern is founded on the human rights guaranteed under international human rights law (i.e., treaty law, customary international law, general principles of international law, and opinion juris). International human rights treaties include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. National constitutions and laws also constitute sources of human rights guarantees. Governments through ratification of human rights treaties or membership in the United Nations assume legal obligations to protect and promote those rights.

Read more here.

The Family Code and Other Related Laws: A Primer for Women (2003)

In line with the advocacy of the Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc. to empower women in using the law to protect and fight for their human rights, this booklet aims to provide basic information on women’s rights  in the context of her family and intimate relations under the Philippine laws. The Family Code is the main reference for this booklet, and indeed, for many discussions on legal questions regarding the Filipino family.

Furthermore, the booklet presents an alternative way to view the Family Code and laws in general. Knowledge of the law is important for women to protect and fight for their human rights. But it should not stop there, given that there are provisions in the law discriminatory to women, and women should also question the law and act to change it.

This booklet is also translated into Cebuano, Ilocano and Tagalog. The booklet is for every wife, single parent, and common-law partner who has not lost hope, or seeks hope, in the legal system.

The Relevance of Divorce in the Philippines (1998)

Marriage is both a tradition and an institution in Philippine society. As a tradition, it is replete with ceremonies and celebratory rituals. As an institution, it is recognized and protected by law. Marriage laws define the rights and duties of husbands and wives. The dissolution of marriage is discouraged and marriage break-ups are frowned upon.

Read more here.

Handbook ng mga Legal Advocates Tungo sa Pagsugpo ng Karahasana Laban sa Kababaihan sa Komunidad (1998)

Ang Legal Advocates Handbook na ito ay naglalayong maging isang gabay sa pagtugon ng mga Legal Advocates sa karahasan laban sa kababaihan sa komunidad. Ang Handbook ay inaalay sa mga kababaihang kasalukuyang kumikilos bilang legal advocates at maging para sa mga pausbong pa lamang na legal advocates sa komunidad.

Ang Unang Bahagi ng Handbook na ito ay tumatalakay sa konsepto ng karahasan laban sa kababaihan. Naglalayon itong mailinaw ang iba’t bang aspekto ng problema ng karahasan nang sa gayon ay angkop itong maipamulat at  matugunan sa komunidad.

Ang Ikalawang Bahagi naman ay tungkol sa kahalagahan ng kolektibong pagkilos sa komunidad tungo sa pagsugpo ng karahasan laban sa kababaihan. Ipinapakita rito ang mga kasangkot at sangkap ng isang sama-samang pagkilos. Ipinapaliwanag din ang mga tungkulin at gawain ng mga legal advocates.

Ang Ikatlong Bahagi ay naglalaman ng mga batas kaugnay ng karahasan laban sa kababaihan at mga kasanayang kakakailanganin ng mga legal advocates kaugnay ng pagtulong sa mga babaeng inabuso.

Maaaring mabasa ang kabuohan ng handbook dito.

A Legislative Advocacy Manual for Women (1997)

This publication is a special contribution of the Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc. to the concerted efforts in public consciousness-raising about women’s issues and the law undertaken by the women’s legislative advocacy alliance known as SIBOL (Sama-samang Inisyatiba ng Kababaihan sa Pagbabago ng Batas at Lipunan). It was produced by women for women. It approaches legislative advocacy from the experience and perspective of activist women’s groups. It is guided to women’s and other marginalized groups’ concerns.

Read more here.