Wanted: Tagalog word for “human trafficking”

From the MTV Enslaved

From the MTV “Enslaved”

In an informal survey conducted by a civil society group working to stop human trafficking, they asked people in the streets what comes to their mind when they hear the phrase “human trafficking.”

Everybody answered:“Traffic.” As in vehicular traffic.

Such is the level of public awareness about human trafficking- the trade in human beings for several purposes, most commonly sexual slavery, pornography, forced labor , extraction of organs or tissues, surrogacy.

The Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking under the Department of Justice is aware of the importance of public cooperation in the campaign against this abominable crime in which the Philippines ranks high as one of the source countries of trafficked persons.


MTV from VERA Files: http://verafiles.org/harnessing-multimedia-to-combat-human-trafficking/
Enslaved, a documentary hosted by Dingdong Dantes and produced by MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) — an international multimedia campaign to raise awareness and increase prevention of human trafficking and exploitation

They want to involve the public, especially the people in the provinces, through an information campaign. And they also know that to do that, they have to speak the language or the dialect of the people they are dealing with.

Yet, up to now, they don’t know how to translate in Tagalog the term “human trafficking.”

Jan Arceo, IACAT’s International Affairs Executive Officer, said they are asking the help of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino on the Filipino word for “human trafficking.” She also said they need Filipino language writers as well as writers in local dialects to do their information materials.

Lately, media came out with reports of the proliferation of cybersex dens in the Philippines following the release of results of the investigation by London’s National Crime Agency about pedophile syndicates in the Philippines victimizing some 60,000 to 100,000 Filipino children (ages six to 15).

In reporting, members of media are again reminded of the following principles for ethical reporting on children provided by the United Nations Children Fund:

1. The dignity and rights of every child are to be respected in every circumstance.

2. In interviewing and reporting on children, special attention is to be paid to each child’s right to privacy and confidentiality, to have their opinions heard, to participate in decisions affecting them and to be protected from harm and retribution, including the potential of harm and retribution.

3. The best interests of each child are to be protected over any other consideration, including over advocacy for children’s issues and the promotion of child rights.

4. When trying to determine the best interests of a child, the child’s right to have their views taken into account are to be given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity.

5. Those closest to the child’s situation and best able to assess it are to be consulted about the political, social and cultural ramifications of any reportage.

6. Do not publish a story or an image which might put the child, siblings or peers at risk even when identities are changed, obscured or not used.

Beware of vultures preying on Yolanda’s victims

Photos from ABS-CBN video

Tacloban children displaced by Yolanda

Tacloban children displaced by Yolanda

What has been feared by human rights advocates is now happening in Tacloban: human trafficker vultures are on a prowl preying on the hapless victims of typhoon Yolanda.

ANC had a report of a human trafficking attempt in Tacloban. DSWD Assistant Secretary Cheche Cabrera related about two cases which they were able to stop. “A very beautiful girl was escorted by two burly looking guys,” she said.

Cabrera said together with the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations, they are setting up a desk in Tacloban Tacloban City, Ormoc and Guiuan, Eastern Samar.“There are lots of possibilities where very young girls will be trafficked,” she said.

DSWD is also coordinating with the Philipine Air Force which is offering free transport through C-130 of refugees to Manila and the Philippine Navy through their ships to be alert in the screening of passengers. Priority is given to the highly vulnerable – those with very young children, pregnant women, persons with disability and seniors. Kapag delikado at hindi makakasagot sa assessment hindi ire-recommend sa C-130, Navy or even the buses,” Cabrera said.

Last weekend, VERA Files conducted a seminar-training for journalists on Human Trafficking in cooperation with the United States Embassy and the Embassy of Canada in Manila.

In his presentation, Ricardo R. Casco, IOM national program coordinator officer and mission coordinator, shared the observation that disastrous calamities, like what happened in Leyte and Samar and much earlier in Bohol and Cebu, heighten vulnerabilities to trafficking.

Exodus from Tacloban

Exodus from Tacloban

“Quickly after realization of calamity damage to homes, property, livelihood and infrastructure, victims of both gender and working age including the youth, are likely to migrate internally and internationally as a coping mechanism to and succumb to unverified job offers,” he said.

Another speaker, Lucille Dejito, special counsel for Interventions, International Justice Mission, and Cebu said they observed that in the aftermath of typhoon Sendong that devastated parts Mindanao of December 2011, there was a spike of of requests for birth certificates and application for passports.

Human trafficking is modern-day slavery.

Republic Act 9208 known as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003″ defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer or harboring, or receipt of persons with or without the victim’s consent or knowledge, within or across national borders by means of threat or use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the person, or, the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation which includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the removal or sale of organs.”

Boarding C-130

Boarding C-130


Casco said human trafficking is the world’s third largest criminal enterprise generating $15 billion last year alone- behind only to international drug and arms trades.

The Philippines is a source country and to a certain extent the destination and transit country for men, women and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.

Casco said a significant number of Filipino men and women who migrate for work abroad are subsequently subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude.

He said findings reveal that 90 percent from the almost 4,000 repatriated OFWs were irregular or undocumented having fake passports and 90 percent of them are potential trafficking victims.

Persons are trafficked for a variety of reasons including debt bondage, forced labor, pornography, prostitution, removal or sale of organs, sex tourism, sex exploitation and others.

An official of the British government, an aide to Justine Greening, Britain’s international development secretary, who is helping to coordinate the UK’s response to the crisis caused by typhoon Yolanda which struck parts of Visayas last Nov. 8, expressed concern “about the safety of women and girls in the Philippines.”

“After previous emergencies in the Philippines, we have seen an increase in violence against women and girls and in particular the trafficking of girls,” the British official said.

The British official recommended sending a women’s ‘protection specialist’.

It is also useful to make the environment not conducive to human traffickers to operate like lighting up the place. But how about in places devastated by Yolanda where power has not been restored?

The British official recommended solar lanterns with built-in mobile phone chargers for remote and vulnerable communities, used in other countries like India which also experienced devastation caused by a cyclone.

Casco said officials and concerned individuals should watch out for indications of increase in the requests for birth certificate and passports without special government-facilitated employment assistance.