The UN yesterday backed a move by the Philippines to introduce sex education among primary and high school students that has sparked a row with the influential Catholic Church.
The UN stressed that the Philippines was a signatory to an international treaty on the rights of children that commits member countries to providing proper information to girls and boys about their bodies.
“It is the obligation of the state to ensure that all adolescent girls and boys are provided with accurate and appropriate information on how to protect their health and practice healthy behaviors,” the UN said in a statement.
“The United Nations will continue to work with government ... to respect, fulfill and protect the rights of girls and boys to comprehensive information regarding their health and their bodies. Global evidence shows that giving clear, appropriate information to adolescents does not increase promiscuity but helps them make responsible decisions,” the UN said.
The government this week began introducing its Adolescent Reproductive Health program in 80 public elementary and 79 high schools.
The scheme will later be expanded nationwide, in what the government said could hopefully reduce the country’s high population growth rate, limit unwanted teenage pregnancies and prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines attacked the program, warning that it encouraged promiscuity among the youth.
The bishops demanded that the government stop the program, saying that sex education was better left to parents and taught within the confines of the home.
The UN yesterday acknowledged that parents played a pivotal role in teaching their children about their sexuality, but noted that people in authority such as teachers or doctors could explain the process better.
The government has often locked horns with church leaders over population control issues in this devoutly Catholic nation of more than 90 million people.
Earlier this year, church leaders called for the health secretary to be sacked after she launched a campaign handing out free condoms on Valentine’s Day.
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