ILOILO City – Children have key roles in the campaign to end violence against women (VAW), according to the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW).
They should be taught about their rights, be aware and help fight violence against women, especially the young boys, said Nharleen Santos-Millar, chief gender and development specialist of the PCW’s Technical Services Regional Coordination Division.
PCW joined a recent Regional Gender and Development Committee (RGADC) meeting at the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) regional office here.
Santos-Millar said it is important that while young, children must know about gender and development, as well as the dangers of violence against women.
Female children, on the other hand, should know their rights, added Santos-Millar.
As for local government units, she said they should have gender-responsive services.
“We should let the community know of our services so that, hand-in-hand, we can eradicate and end violence against women,” she said.
The United Nations defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”
Intimate partner violence is a kind of VAW. It refers to behavior by an intimate partner or ex-partner that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviors.
Another type of VAW is sexual violence – “any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, or other act directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting. It includes rape, defined as the physically forced or otherwise coerced penetration of the vulva or anus with a penis, other body part or object.” (PIA-6/PN)
