subsumed in a Presidential Memorandum issued in early 1995 that established a task force comprising representatives of the Government and NGOs to prepare the plan. The task force worked to a set of guiding principles that asserted the universality of human rights, the need to focus on vulnerable groups and the importance of broad community support. In developing the plan, it focused on 13 groups (later expanded to 16) that had been officially recognized by the Government as vulnerable and needing special consideration. A structured process of consultation and review was put in place involving the preparation of a range of proposals and regional action plans. The process included meetings and consultations in many areas of the country, which contributed to a national process that also involved public meetings and consultations. Another feature of the Philippines plan was the attention given from the start to budgetary issues. The task force established a special committee to review financing requirements for proposed activities under the plan and to identify sources of funds. All this activity fed into the broad-based presidential task force that produced the plan. The draft plan was submitted to the President in September 1995 and, after some further revision, was adopted in June 1996. It set itself a five-year time frame, for the period 1996-2000. This was later extended to 2002. The vulnerable groups identified in the plan are women, children, youth, indigenous cultural communities, Muslims, the elderly, persons with disabilities, the mentally disabled, prisoners and detainees, migrant workers, public-sector labour, privatesector labour, informal labour, the urban poor and rural workers. A uniform presentation was adopted for each sector. The summary of the plan does not set out a systematic analysis of the situation in each sector but summarizes the major problems faced. The plan contains a brief discussion of the rights of each sector as well as a summary of current programmes of the Government and NGOs. The plan then proposes measures for legislative, administrative and other actions to address the issues affecting the human rights of people in each sector. Looking at the issue of women as an example of the plan’s approach, the issues identified include: • Discriminatory legislation; • Violence against women; and • Failure to recognize women’s rights, for instance in relation to health, reproductive rights, stereotyping, sexism and limited educational and employment opportunities. The legislative measures proposed include: • Repeal of discriminatory laws; • Amendment of legislation that is not responsive to the needs of victims of violence against women, redefinition of concepts of trafficking in persons, rape and domestic violence; • Legislation to eliminate discrimination. 29