By NNN-PNA
Manila : Philippine non-government organization Visayan Forum Foundation Inc. (VFFI) is willing to help shelter in its centers Filipinos rescued from international human trafficking.
VFFI Deputy Executive Director Roland Pacis said such will be among this NGO’s contribution to efforts on curbing trafficking which authorities consider as an act that violates human rights.
Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 defines trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons for exploitation with or without their consent or knowledge.
“By early next year, VFFI will be a sheltering agency if government requests so,” Pacis said Monday in an interview during the 7th Asian Regional Conference of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect at Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel in Pasay City.
He noted VFFI will extend to victims concerned accommodation, counseling and other services it provides abused domestic workers as well as women and children rescued from local traffickers.
VFFI maintains centers or halfway houses in Manila’s North Harbor, Batangas International Port, Matnog Port in Sorsogon province and Davao Sasa Port where its staff looks after victims.
Pacis assured VFFI will continue supporting anti-trafficking efforts as Filipinos continue seeking work in foreign shores.
“The Philippines is a leading source of migrant workers with Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Italy and the Middle East as among their top destinations,” he noted.
Citing a Commission on Filipinos Overseas report, VFFI said, such agency recorded some 1,013 cases of human smuggling from 1993 to 2002.
“The International Organization for Migration also estimates around 200,000 to 250,000 women and children are trafficked annually in Asia,” VFFI said in ‘Looking from Within,’ its primer on trafficking.
The United States government estimates that in 2003, around 600,000 to 800,000 people were trafficked across transational borders worldwide.
It is believed over 80 percent of them are women and girls and that 70 percent were forced into sexual servitude.
These numbers don’t include victims trafficked within borders and exploited for local jobs. In Southeast Asia, the estimated number of victims trafficked across borders reached at least 225,000.
VFFI added the United Nations believes human trafficking is now the third largest source of money for organized crime worldwide after sale of arms and drugs.
Common schemes used in international trafficking include fraudulent documentation of victims, bogus marriages, escort services, blind advertisements, contract substitution and ‘au pair’ or host family sponsorship, VFFI added.