29 May 2022, The Hague – The Philippine Embassy’s Legal Officer and Attaché, Atty. Marisar Ivy Cabatingan, was elected as Vice Chair of the Standing Committee of the Council of Diplomatic Representatives (CDR) of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) for the term 2022 to 2024 during the CDR’s in-person meeting on 24 May at the Hague Academy, Peace Palace.
Atty. Cabatingan is the first woman to occupy the position in the history of HCCH.
“As a woman-representative from the Asia-Pacific region, I am grateful for this opportunity to take part in important matters affecting the organization. I sincerely appreciate how the permanent bureau and the CDR gave special consideration and importance to ensuring a gender balanced representation,” Atty. Cabatingan said.
Ambassador J. Eduardo Malaya expressed the Philippine Embassy’s gratitude to the assembly for the trust and confidence reposed on Ms. Cabatingan.
A graduate of the University of San Jose Recoletos College of Law in Cebu, Ms. Cabatingan is also the Embassy’s Gender and Development Focal Point Officer.
The CDR is composed of Ambassadors of the HCCH Member States or their designated representatives. It is the supreme financial and budgetary authority of the HCCH that exercises oversight of its financial administration and is chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Meanwhile, the Standing Committee assists the CDR and considers any financial or budgetary matters that may be brought to its attention by any Member State or the HCCH Secretary General. It is chaired by a member of the CDR and is elected by the same for a period of two years. The current Chair is Mr. Mostafa Diaa Eldin Mohamed of the Egyptian Embassy in The Hague.
The HCCH is an intergovernmental organization that administers international conventions in the area of private international law, including conventions that the Philippines has acceded to, namely the Inter-Country Adoption Convention, the Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction, the Apostille Convention and the Service Convention. The HCCH currently has 91 Members: 90 States and 1 regional economic integration organization (the European Union). END
