UN, 20 government agencies back RH bill

UN, 20 government agencies back RH bill

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) — The United Nations and 20 Philippine government agencies voiced their support for the passage of a reproductive health (RH) bill that would supposedly promote responsible parenthood.

The support came after Catholics staged a protest rally against the bill on Saturday.

In a joint statement, the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and the UN Children’s Fund said the enactment of Philippine House Bill 4244 or more popularly known as the reproductive health (RH) bill would help prevent the rise of urban poverty.

“The current high economic growth of more than 5 percent per year promises to lift millions of Filipinos out of poverty. But hopes of future prosperity could turn to dust if the country is not able to deal with the population growth by giving men and women access to the information and means to freely and responsibly exercise their human right to have just the number of children they want,” said a UN joint statement issued on Sunday.

About 20 million Filipinos live in slum conditions and that urban population is growing at a rate of 60 percent. Without an RH measure, urban poverty could worsen, the UN agencies said.

“It is estimated that by 2030, 75 percent of the Philippine population will be living in urban areas. While cities may look better off on the average, deeper in-city analysis exposes the urban poor to be among the most vulnerable to natural disasters and economic shocks,” the statement said.

The UN agencies described as misconceptions that the proposed bill would have negative impacts on Filipino society.

“The United Nations is confident that enacting the bill would not lead to the imposition of coercive measures such as a two-child policy. The United Nations has long resolved that given correct and appropriate information on family planning, individuals and couples will be able to exercise their exclusive right to determine their family size,” the statement added.

The UN agencies noted that more than 40 years ago, during the International Year for Human Rights, the Philippines joined the global community in proclaiming that “individuals have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children.”

“Since then, the Philippines has ratified international conventions that recognize these rights, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC),” the agencies said.

The Human Development and Poverty Reduction Center (HPDR) noted that the Philippines now have one of the worst poverty situations and one of the highest birth rates in Southeast Asia, earning the country the “dubious distinction” of being the 12th most populous country in the world.

Based on the Family Health Survey (FHS) conducted by the government in August and September of 2011, the current maternal mortality rate (MMR) is 36 percent higher than the figure registered in 2006, when there were 162 estimated deaths per 100, 000 live births.