eng - World Organisation Against Torture

RECOMMENDATIONS1. Regarding the protection against tortureand other cruel, inhuman and degradingtreatment or punishment in thePhilippines:• OMCT recommends that theCommittee on the Rights of the Child askthe government of the Philippines to complywith its international obligationsunder the CAT and pass a law criminalizingtorture and particularly to providewith effective and heavier sentencewhen the victim is a person under 18years old.2. Regarding arbitrary executions, extrajudicialkillings and especially thenumerous cases of killings by the Davaand Digos Death Squads:• OMCT recommends that the Committeeon the Rights of the Child asks thegovernment of the Philippines to stop thearbitrary executions and to order a thoroughand impartial investigation into thecircumstances of these events in order tobring those responsible to trial and applythe penal and/or administrative sanctionsas provided by law.3. Regarding sexual exploitation:• Concerning the absence of determinedage of sexual consent, OMCT encouragesthe Philippines to engage a debate at alllevels in the society to discuss the age ofsexual consent in a sense that could helpto address the problem of sexual exploitation.• OMCT welcomes the initiatives takento tackle sexual exploitation, particularlyprogrammes ruled by children themselvesin order to make other childrensensitive to this matter. However, this remainsincomplete and OMCT recommendsthat the Committee on the Rightsof the Child ask the government of thePhilippines to adopt international andnational legislations whose purpose isto protect children from all forms ofviolence, such as commercial, sexualexploitation, child abuse and child trafficking.50