detention facilities. With its role under the National Preventive Mechanism
(NPM) Against Torture, the Commission is responsible for monitoring
conditions of places of detention and the situation of persons deprived
of liberty (PDLs). As the designated Gender and Development Ombud
(Gender Ombud) under the Magna Carta of Women (RA 9710, MCW), the
Commission is also mandated to undertake advocacies that promote and
protect women’s human rights. This includes overseeing government
compliance with the Act in terms of protecting women’s rights and
responding to needs of women “living in especially difficult circumstances,”
among whom are women deprived of liberty (WDL).
The Commission works hand-in-hand with concerned government
agencies, instrumentalities, and mechanisms in fulfilling its functions under
the MCW. Among the most recent initiatives of the Commission through
its Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights Center (GEWHRC) and
its sixteen regional offices is the monitoring of the situation of women in
detention and the capacity building of detention officers on the Bangkok
and Mandela Rules. The program was conducted in collaboration with
the BJMP and selected Women’s Correctional Facilities. Specifically, the
initiative seeks to surface lived experiences of women deprived of liberty
by hearing their own stories and their own accounts of their situation while
in detention, highlighting the intersections of gender and their context as
incarcerated women.
To surface women’s lived experiences, focus group discussions (FGDs) were
held with women deprived of liberty. There were separate FGDs for the
elderly or senior citizens, for women of reproductive age, and for persons
with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE).
To enhance protection of the rights of WDL, workshops were also held
with personnel of detention facilities. The workshops served to document
and update their practices on managing facilities in accordance with the
Bangkok Rules, or the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women
Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders. For the
conduct of FGDs with WDL, the objectives were the following:
1.
To document the lived experiences of women in detention and to
gather information on their condition and situation;
2. To provide a space for women to discuss their experiences, particularly
on their a) situation during detention, b) security and protection
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