
The Philippines counts as many as 104 million people and is the 13th most populated country in the world. The country has seen an unprecedented growth of its population, in part due to the lack of access to family planning. The Philippines’ ultraconservative catholic church forbade access to contraception and while its influence is said to be slowly lessening, it is still having a huge impact on the family planning decisions of citizens. Only 40% of all young women have access to contraceptives and one in 10 girls has their first child before the age of 10.

The country visit led by EPF allowed Dallemagne and other European MPs to exchange views with Philippine peers and members of civil society. Dallemagne called on the Belgian MPs to increase our dialogue with the country and to continue to criticize the country for its human rights violations.