26. The State party, under its amended Migrants Worker law, allows deployment only to countries that (a) have taken positive and concrete measures to protect the rights of migrant workers in addition to having labour and social laws protecting the rights of workers, including migrant workers; or are signatories to and/or ratified multilateral conventions, declarations or resolutions relating to the protection of workers including migrant workers; or have concluded bilateral agreements or arrangements with the State party on the protection of the rights of OFWs. 27. In 2012-2013, the State party forged the following labour agreements: A Protocol on the Employment of Filipino Domestic Workers with Jordan (2012); MOU on Labor Cooperation and Protocol on the Deployment and Employment of Household Service Workers with Lebanon (2012); MOU on Labour Cooperation with Kuwait (2012); Joint Communiqué on Areas of Mutual Benefit with Respect to Labour Mobility with British Columbia (2012); Agreement on Deployment of Nurses with Germany (2013); MOU on Domestic Workers with Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (2013); and MOU on Human Resource Development with Saskatchewan (2013). 28. The State party also concluded a Philippine-EU Partnership Cooperation Agreement (PH-EU PCA) and Philippine-Canada Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC). 29. The State party is the first country in the ASEAN that ratified the Convention. The State party is a founding member, and continues to take active leadership roles in regional cooperation processes and multilateral forums on labour migration management and migration and development, such as the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), Colombo Process, and Abu Dhabi Dialogue which it currently chairs for 20122014. 30. Under the Socio-Economic Community of the ASEAN, the State party continues to negotiate for the adoption of the implementing guidelines on regional cooperation on the protection of migrant workers. Within the framework of action of ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC), the State party likewise shepherds negotiations on an ASEAN Convention and a regional plan of action to combat TIP. 31. In recent years, the State party has undertaken continuing review and development of bilateral agreements based on existing guidelines51. Review of existing labour agreements forged with Italy, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Israel, Iraq, Oman and Kuwait are ongoing. Recent BLAs not only contain general statements but specific terms and standards relating to conditions of employment for target occupations. 7. Please provide information on the mandate and activities of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines to promote and protect the rights of migrant workers and members of their families under the Convention, as well as on any plans to extend the mandate of the Commission to include economic, social and cultural rights of migrant workers 32. In accordance with the Paris Principle, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines is an independent human rights institution whose work is supported by the State party. Discussions are on-going in the Philippine legislature to further expand its mandate and strengthen its organizational capacity. 8. Please provide information on the measures taken to prevent public officials from using corrupt practices to (a) obstruct migrants’ access to justice and (b) favour child labour, e.g. by stating a higher age of migrant children on birth certificates 33. The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act impose stiff penalties to public officials who facilitate or directly participate in trafficking of 51 DOLE issued Administrative Order Nos. 383 (2010), 481 (2011) creating the Committee on Labor Agreement Matters and No. 28 (2011) providing for Guidelines and procedures on negotiating labor agreements and prescribing model Bilateral Labor Agreement. 87