Inter-agency body on children in armed conflict revamped

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has revamped the Inter-Agency Committee on Children in Armed Conflict (IAC-CIAC) under an executive order aimed at further strengthening the government’s program for the protection of children against armed hostilities, abuse and exploitation.  

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. said the other day that President Aquino signed on Aug. 2 Executive Order 138 amending EO 56 and placing the IAC-CIAC under the direct supervision of the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC), instead of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP). 

Under EO 138, the CWC will be the lead agency in the implementation of the CIAC Program Framework, which addresses the alarming involvement of children in armed conflict, either as combatants, couriers, spies, medics or cooks, or their recruitment for sexual purposes, among others.

The council will also be in charge of coordinating and monitoring the program framework at all levels.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development earlier had sought the establishment of the Monitoring, Reporting and Response System for Grave Child Rights’ Violations (MRRS-GCRV) in situations of armed conflict to be headed by the CWC in order to step up government response to the problem of children being recruited, killed, maimed and abused in areas of armed hostilities.

The MRRS-GCRV will now serve as the monitoring arm of the inter-agency committee.

The OPAPP remains a member of the inter-agency committee, along with the Commission on Human Rights; the departments of Education, Foreign Affairs, Interior and Local Government, Health, National Defense-Armed Forces, Justice, and Social Welfare and Development; the Philippine National Police; Presidential Human Rights Committee; and the Presidential Management Staff. 

The CWC and member-agencies have been tasked to craft a memorandum of agreement to define and delineate their functions and duties within 60 days after the presidential directive takes effect.

The Philippines is a state party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.  â€“ With Delon Porcalla