Karen S. Gomez Dumpit has served the Philippine Government for the past 28 years. 25 years of which has been devoted to Human Rights Advocacy including 9 years as the first director of the Commission on Human Rights’ Child Rights Center. A Career Executive Service Officer IV since 1998, her last post before her appointment as commissioner was the Director of Government Linkages Office (GovLink now renamed Policy Advisory Office). For 13 years, She implemented programs that carry out the constitutional mandate to monitor government compliance with human rights treaty obligations; harmonizing domestic laws in accordance with standards and principles set by core international human rights instruments; monitoring of Philippine Jurisprudence that affirm human rights treaties; and advising the executive and other relevant state agencies on its implementation of the obligations to respect, protect and fulfill human rights.
Karen has engaged with stakeholders in discussions on various human rights policy working towards the passage of laws which include the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act, Law Prohibiting the imposition of the Death Penalty, International Humanitarian Law Bill, Anti-Torture Act and Recognition & Reparation of Martial Law Victims, among others. She has staunchly advocated for the rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty which earned her a Gawad Paglilingkod (Service Award) from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippine’s Episcopal Commission for Prison Pastoral Care.
Her programmatic innovations in human rights advocacy include the Human Rights – Based Approach to Legislation and groundbreaking engagements of the CHR in the Human Rights Promotion and Protection Mechanisms of the United Nations (Universal Periodic Review, Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families, Convention against Torture, Cruel and other Inhuman, Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).
Karen is the Focal Commissioner on the following advocacies:
-Right to Life/Anti-Death Penalty
-Gender Equality
-Anti-Discrimination
-Human Rights of Women
-LGBTI
-Older Persons
Co-focal concerns include
-Migrant Workers
-Persons with Disabilities
-Human Rights Defenders
In the Commission's operations, her current portfolio includes
-Administration (as Focal Commissioner)
-Human Rights Policy (as Co Focal
Commissioner)
-Human Rights Promotion (as Co- Focal)
She finished AB Communication Arts in De La Salle University in 1989. In 1994, she earned a postgraduate degree, Master in Public Management, with honors, at the Development Academy of the Philippines and obtained a Master of Science in Human Rights, with honors, as a British Chevening Scholar at the London School Economics and Political Science in 2004.
Karen, along with other members of the Fifth Commission (2015-2022), serves a seven year term which ends on May 5, 2022.