LAWMAKERS have pushed for the passage of a measure seeking to protect children in situations of armed conflict.
Former Speaker and Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr., author of House Bill 13, stressed the need for Congress to enact the measure as this would provide children in armed conflict situations protection from all forms of abuse, violence, neglect, discrimination, and other conditions.
Belmonte said the country has a long history of armed conflict, where children have been victims of human rights violations, internal displacement, and even recruited by armed groups to serve as messengers, spies, and soldiers for the armed groups.
Belmonte said the protection of children from armed conflict is an important aspect of a comprehensive strategy to resolve conflict and should be a priority not only by the international community but by the State, especially when it is experiencing armed conflict.
“Children are the most affected sector in the armed conflicts, experiencing the loss of access to food, water, sanitation, health, education, and other basic services and worse, many of them become victims of killing, rape, and other forms of sexual violence and abduction,” Belmonte said.
He noted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which the Philippines is a signatory of, obliges the country to ensure that children’s rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled.
Another author of the measure, Quezon City Rep. Jose Christopher Belmonte said the bill, once enacted, would ensure the protection of the children’s well-being; create an environment that will foster their physical, psychological, intellectual, and moral development; and mold the children into patriotic, responsible, and productive citizens.
Belmonte recalled the measure was originally filed in the 15th Congress and refiled during the 16th Congress, but did not prosper.
For his part, Tambunting said his proposal seeks to ensure the human rights of children shall be respected at all times, and that paramount consideration shall be the best interest of the child in case of armed conflicts and displacement.
“Children are entitled to dignity and respect as human beings in need of protection from degradation, humiliation, maltreatment, exploitation, and assault,” Tambunting stressed.
The lawmakers who filed separate measures on the matter cited the urgency in protecting children in situations of armed struggle. They.emphasized that the lack of legislation to cover and focus on the rights and dignity of children is tremendously alarming because the perpetrators of violence, who demoralize and exploit the innocent children, are not penalized.
The House committee on welfare of children, chaired by Zamboanga del Sur Rep. Divina Grace Yu, is currently deliberating on several measures on the subject filed. The panel also agreed to use HB 13 of former speaker Belmonte as its working draft for its succeeding hearings, Yu said.
The bills refer to children in situations of armed conflict as ‘’all children involved in armed conflict, children affected by armed conflict, and internally displaced children.”