protecting filipino children from abuse, exploitation and violence

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community or barangay, city, municipality, province, regional and national bodies – thus enhancing
the protective and caring environment for children. The cross-cutting strategies and interventions can
be grouped into the following: (a) preventive actions and early interventions, (b) rescue, psychosocial
recovery and social reintegration, and (c) legal and judicial protection measures.
The revised and updated CPCP calls for a renewed shift from a needs-based to a rights-based
approach to advocacy and programming. As already indicated earlier, consequent to CRC ratification,
the government, non-government organizations, families and communities, religious communities
and faith-based organizations, and the rest of civil society are obliged to respect, protect, facilitate,
and fulfill the rights of children. In terms of child protection, it is no longer enough to address the
immediate causes and risk factors that make children vulnerable to abuse, neglect, exploitation and
violence. It also requires actions that will tackle the root causes that have given rise, and will continue
to give rise, to the especially difficult circumstances that lead to serious violations and non-fulfillment
of children's rights.
In sum, the CPCP espouses vigorous advocacy and public consciousness-raising, capacity
building, alliance building, family and community participation and empowerment, civil society
mobilization and resource generation towards a broad-based response – akin to a social movement –
for the promotion, protection and fulfillment of the rights of children, particularly those in need of
special protection measures. Building on the experiences and lessons learned in implementing the
CPCP from 2001-2005, this revised and updated programme emphasizes the strategic importance of
coordinated actions at the family, community and LGU levels – backed up by responsive laws, policies,
structures and systems at the regional and national levels – in responding to various instances of child
abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence.
RAUL M. GONZALEZ
Secretary, Department of Justice
Chair, Special Committee for the
Protection of Children
ESPERANZA I. CABRAL, M.D
Secretary of Social Welfare & Development
Co-Chair, Special Committee for the
Protection of Children