In a bid to protect minors from sexual abuse, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a bill that raises the minimum age of sexual consent from 12 to 16. Duterte signed the bill into law on Monday.
Until now, the Philippines has had one of the world’s lowest minimum ages of sexual consent (12), behind Nigeria’s age of 11. A joint survey by UNICEF and the Center for Women’s Resources had found that seven out of 10 victims of sexual violence in the Philippines were children.
The survey had found that one in five children between the ages of 13 and 17 were subjected to one form of sexual abuse. Of these, one in 25 experienced forced consummated childhood sex. The new law was passed to prevent this. Under the new law, sexual contact with children under the age of 16 is illegal.
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