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.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
The death toll from a shooting in western Afghanistan rose to 11 on Saturday, after gunmen targeted civilians at a picnic spot in Herat, the provincial authority said. Bullet marks were visible on a wall of the Sayed Mohammad Agha Shia shrine, while bloodstains marked a blanket abandoned at the scene. “Eleven people have been recorded dead and eight others wounded from Friday’s incident, with the condition of two of the wounded reported as critical,” Herat’s information office said in a statement. The update raises a toll of seven killed provided on Friday by the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs
RSS