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Sunday 26 October 2014

Full text of "Siem Reap Commitment" by Asian parliamentarians on preventing violence against women and girls

Give our kids a better deal 

Cambodia's youngest lawmaker Hun Many addressing the regional parliamentarians meeting on preventing violence against women and girls in Siem Reap
SIEM REAP (The Cambodia Herald) -- Herewith the full text of the "Siem Reap Commitment" to prevent violence against women and girls adopted by Asian parliamentarians on Saturday: 


We Parliamentarians, representing 19 countries from the Asia-Pacific region, gathered together on 24-26 October 2014 in Siem Reap, Cambodia, to continue the work of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development’s “Standing Committee of Male Parliamentarians on the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls” and other regional parliamentarians. 



We acknowledge the recent work of male and female parliamentarians in pursuing gender issues and International Conference on Population and Development priorities within the emerging Sustainable Development Goals. We welcome the recent passage and oversight of legislation along with increased resourcing to assist ending violence against women and girls. 



We reaffirm the vital role of male parliamentarians in promoting policy and legislative changes aimed at eliminating violence against women and children. We also reaffirm the unique role that individual men and boys can play in eradicating violence in partnership with women and girls, as role models within our own families and communities. We are committed to ensuring a high standard of wellbeing is achieved for all women and their families through empowerment. 



We endorse and embrace the Siem Reap Commitment to: 



1. boost efforts to repeal laws and eradicate policies and practices that discriminate against women and girls and to adopt laws and promote practices that protect their rights and promote gender equality; 



2. work towards the provision of free basic education and encourage supporting mechanisms to further education for girls at all levels, access to sexual and reproductive health information services and efforts to eliminate child, early and forced marriage; 



3. increase public awareness of the value of the girl child and build the capacities of doctors, nurses, midwives, law enforcement agencies and judges to address gender based violence and eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl child, and the root causes of son preference; 



4. prohibit practices that violate the reproductive health and rights of women and adolescent girls; 



5. promote men’s understanding of their roles and responsibilities with regard to reproductive health and the reproductive rights of men and women, supporting their partners as well as their own access to reproductive health care, including family planning services, helping to prevent unwanted pregnancies and reducing transmission of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS; 



6. advocate to boys and men about the physical, emotional, social and legal consequences of child marriage as it impacts on all genders; 



7. identify, enforce and strengthen effective measures and specific policies to prevent, combat and eliminate all forms of trafficking in persons, to counter the demand for trafficked victims and to protect the victims, in particular women and children subjected to forced labour, sexual exploitation, violence or sexual abuse; 



8. support monitoring, evaluation and reporting systems for anti-trafficking National Action Plans to ensure timely implementation and evidence-based responses; and improve research, analysis and data systems to strengthen counter-trafficking approaches, including registration of all births and marriages; 



9. improve victim identification with appropriate procedures and ‘trauma-informed’ interviews of trafficked women and girls, develop special measures for the protection and support of trafficked women and girls and support institutionalisation of cross-border cooperation and coordination; 



10. ensure that parliaments that have enacted laws and ordinances subsequent to signing of the Child Rights Convention and Human Rights Convention, also ensure that the legal machineries responsible for enforcing these laws are sensitised on said laws and are held liable to prosecution if they fail to fulfil their obligations; 



11. advocate for urgent and increased investment in policies, programmes, research and legislative reforms, focusing on access to rights and justice, to address the high rates of violence against women, adolescents and girls, including those with disabilities and introduce legislation to address the impact of gambling, alcohol, drug and other substance abuse on increasing violence; 



12. repeal laws that authorise compulsory HIV testing and support rights to confidentiality and ensure protection from discrimination for those who are HIV-positive, including trafficked women and girls; 



13. repeal laws that criminalise the possession of condoms as evidence for arrest and advocate for more non-discriminatory laws that protect the health and safety of sex workers, including harm reduction and condom programmes; 



14. enact laws that promote the equality of opportunity and the rights of women and children migrants, both domestically and internationally; 



15. ensure that women and men parliamentarians are informed and equally engaged in the regional and global partnership for sustainable development through effective partnerships with civil society, the private sector and the media, youth and faith-based organisations, as well as partnering with men and boys to transform negative and inequitable gender stereotypes and the preventing of violence against women and girls; 



16. advocate to set up programmes and mechanisms to help abusive men to understand and address their behavior; 



17. join the efforts of AFPPD’s Standing Committee on the Status of Women and parliamentarians attending the Women Ministers and Parliamentarians Conferences on Progressing SRHR and Gender Equality to address the root causes of discrimination, abuse and violence against women and girls. 



Adopted in Siem Reap, Cambodia on 25 October 2014 by 41 Members of Parliament.

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