6 January 2015 - The Philippine delegation led by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairperson Patricia Licuanan, participated in the Asian and Pacific Conference on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Beijing+20 Review organized by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) from 17 to 20 November 2014 in Bangkok.

Chairperson Licuanan also delivered the country statement during the Ministerial Segment.

The Philippine delegation, through co-head Philippine Ambassador Jocelyn Batoon-Garcia, also actively participated in the deliberations and worked on the inclusion of Philippine priorities in the Asian and Pacific Ministerial Declaration on Advancing Gender Equality and Women Empowerment during the Senior Official Segment of the meeting chaired by the Philippines through former Ambassador Rosario Manalo, Philippine Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). Ambassador Manalo is also the Co-Chair of the Delegation.

The members of the Philippine delegation were government officials from the House of Representatives, Department of Foreign Affairs, including the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok, Department of Justice, Department of Health, Department of Agriculture, National Economic and Development Authority, the Philippine Commission on Women, National Anti-Poverty Commission, Presidential Communications Operations Office, Presidential Human Rights Commission, Philippine Statistics Authority and the Philippine Representative to the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC); and civil society organizations, namely: The Forum for Planning and Development, Inc. Women’s Business Council of the Philippines, LIKHAAN Center for Women’s Health, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era and the Philippine NGO Coalition on the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  END