Filipino ambassador bags seat in UN body

MANILA, Philippines – A Filipino diplomat on Wednesday won a seat in a United Nations (UN) treaty body on gender equality and women’s rights in the elections held at the UN Headquarters on Wednesday.

Ambassador Rosario Manalo will take a seat at the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) for the 2017 to 2020 term.  She was among the 25 candidates vying for the 11 seats in the CEDAW.

The 10 other candidates who made it to the committee were from Bahamas, China, France, Ghana, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mauritania, Nepal, Nigeria, and Norway.

The CEDAW is a body of independent experts reviewing the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly.

Manalo is not new to the committee as she chaired it from 2005 to 2006. She also served as the chairperson of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in 1984 to 1986, which became the Preparatory Committee for the 1985 Nairobi Third World Conference on Women.

The Filipino diplomat then shared the convention’s concepts to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“The human condition and the human spirit of the women in this lovely corner of the world will have to cross, sooner than later, to achieve a better life for the people of Southeast Asia. Let us in the Philippines start this journey and lead ASEAN to greater heights in peace, in equality, in prosperity and in the exercise of social justice,” Manalo said.

Manalo has been serving the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for 57 years, performing in various capacities in multilateral fora and bilateral relations. Her first diplomatic posting was as Ambassador to the European Economic Community in Brussels from 1979 to 1987. She later served as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (1985-1987), Ambassador to the French Republic with concurrent accreditation to Portugal (1990-1994) and Ambassador to Sweden and the Nordic States and the Baltic States (1994-1997).

She was the Undersecretary of the DFA from 1997 to 2002 in charge of International Economic Relations and concurrently served as the secretary general of the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines. 

She currently teaches at the Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University-College of St. Benilde, Miriam College, Philippine Women’s University, University of Asia and the Pacific, National Defense College of the Philippines, the Foreign Service Institute, and the University of the Philippines. — Rosette Adel