The President of the Philippines has approved a bill to increase the age of sexual consent from 12 to 18
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signed a law into law Monday (March 8th) raising the minimum age for sexual consent from 12 to 16. The president's office said Monday that the law was enacted to protect underage girls from rape and sexual abuse.
According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria has the lowest age of sexual consent in the world. The minimum age there is 11 years. This was followed by the Philippines. The minimum age there was 12 years.
A 2015 joint survey by the Center for Women's Resources, a local non-governmental group in the Philippines, and UNICEF found that seven out of 10 rape victims in the country were children.
One in five surveyed participants between the ages of 13 and 18 has been sexually assaulted, and one in 25 has been sexually abused as a child.
Under Duterte's approved bill, sexual intercourse with any minor under the age of 18 would be considered legal rape unless the age difference between them is three years or less and the relationship is not consensual or exploitative.
If one of the participants is under 13 years of age, the above exemption will not be applicable.
"We welcome this law and hope that it will help protect young girls from rape and sexual abuse," said Josali Denla, a spokeswoman for the National Union of People's Lawyers, a legal aid organization for the poor and marginalized in the Philippines.
Lawrence Fortune, one of the bill's main sponsors, described it as "a huge step."
"I am delighted to see the success of our joint efforts to protect against rape and other forms of sexual harassment," she said in a statement.
No comments