PH Embassy in Brussels Organizes Network, Talk on Women Protection

From left: Police Judicial Commissioner Ronny de Blaere, lawyer Jean-Yves Marichal, and Judge Gerd Rosewick are joined by Ambassador to Belgium Eduardo José A. de Vega during discussions at the Seminar on Learning Protocols to Protect Victims and Survivors of Violence Against Women organized by the Philippine Embassy in Belgium on 14 December 2018. (Brussels PE photo)

BRUSSELS 11 January 2019 — In solidarity with the 18-Day Campaign to End Violence against Women (VAW), the Philippine Embassy in Brussels organized the Third Consultation Meeting to Establish the Women Helping Women Network (WHW), back-to-back with a Seminar on Learning Protocols to Protect Victims and Survivors of VAW on 14 December 2018 at the Embassy premises.

At the WHW meeting, which is part of the Embassy’s Gender and Development program, volunteers from the Filipino Community heeded the Embassy’s call to assist kababayans in distress and gave their commitment as focal points in six of the identified regions in Belgium. These regions cover the areas of West Flanders, East Flanders, Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, Brussels Capital Region, and Liège.

The VAW Seminar brought together a panel of resource speakers composed of Deinze Federal Police Judicial Commissioner Ronny de Blaere, lawyer Jean-Yves Marichal and Judge Gerd Rosewick, a judge in the German- and French-speaking court in Liège. The resource speakers provided advice and guidance for Filipino victims of VAW, as well as for those who assist them, in filing a complaint with the Belgian Police and working through their cases within the Belgian legal system.

Ambassador to Belgium Eduardo José A. de Vega thanked the resource speakers for sharing their time and expertise in providing important information to the Filipino Community on helping and protecting victims and survivors of VAW. He also thanked the Filipino community and other Belgian friends for volunteering to be part of the WHW Network, which is aimed at providing assistance to Filipinos in distress in Belgium.

The Embassy also took the initiative to brief members of the Filipino Community in Luxembourg on the Philippine government’s anti-VAW campaign during a consular outreach mission on 08 December 2018. Luxembourg is under the Embassy’s concurrent jurisdiction.

Brochures with additional information on Philippine laws on VAW were also distributed to participants during the two events in Brussels and Luxembourg. END

For more information, visit www.brusselspe.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/PHinBelgium.

An audience composed of both Filipino and Belgian nationals listen intently during the Third Meeting of the Women Helping Women Network held back-to-back with a Seminar on Learning Protocols to Protect Victims and Survivors of Violence Against Women organized by the Philippine Embassy in Belgium on 14 December 2018. (Brussels PE photo)

Participants in the seminar join Embassy officials in thanking the resource persons for providing an overview of the Belgian rules and procedures in addressing VAW and helping those who have fallen victim to VAW. (Brussels PE photo)