A/HRC/8/52 page 165 and advise on executive action to address human rights issues. It finally stated its readiness to work with the Government and civil society in formulating the national human rights plan of action and in follow-up to the universal periodic review. 478. The International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific, Action Canada for Population and Development, the Latin American Committee for the Defence of Women’s Rights, the Centre for reproductive rights and the Federation for Women and Family Planning called on the Government to reject the recommendation made by the Holy See in paragraph 58 of the report of the Working Group, calling for the protection of children in the womb. The recommendation is contrary to the concluding comments of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in which it urged the Government to remove the punitive provisions imposed on women who have abortions and to reduce women’s maternal mortality rates in line with the Committee’s general recommendation No. 24 on women and health and the Beijing Platform for Action. The recommendation contravenes the findings of the treaty monitoring bodies that access to safe and legal abortion is a matter of women’s right to life, health, non-discrimination and dignity based on interpretations of human rights norms, commitments in global consensus documents and evidence of the impact of unsafe abortion on women’s health. As reflected in recommendation No. 15, the non-governmental organizations called on the Government of the Philippines to extend a standing invitation to the special procedures as part of its commitment to respect and fulfil women’s reproductive rights. 479. Human Rights Watch, in a joint statement with Amnesty International, welcomed the important recommendations made by several States during the review of the Philippines to eliminate extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture and other ill-treatment, and to carry out investigations into such violations and to punish those responsible. They encouraged the Philippines to act immediately on those recommendations, which echo those of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch welcomed the Government’s stated commitment to reducing incidents of extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances and to bringing the perpetrators to justice, including through enhanced coordination between its prosecution services and other agencies. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch noted that the challenge for the Philippines continued to be the effective implementation of its initiatives and programmes, including reform of the witness protection programme and the prosecution and suitable punishment of persons found to be responsible for political killings and other serious rights violations, particularly those from the security sector. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch encouraged the Philippines to implement its institutional reforms necessary for preventing a resurgence of political killings, by vigorously investigating and prosecuting members of the military implicated in extrajudicial killings or enforced disappearances and by creating a specialist unit in the Witness Protection Programme to provide social and financial support for witnesses and families of alleged victims of political killings and enforced disappearances for as long as they are at risk. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International also welcomed the signature of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture shortly after the review of the Philippines in April, and encouraged its early ratification as well as ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, as pledged by the Government. 480. The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions welcomed the attention paid to economic, social and cultural rights, and particularly to housing rights in the national report; and in particular welcomed the voluntary commitment to continue to find measures to meet the basic