Manila (AsiaNews) – Talitha Kum Philippines (TKP), which is part of the international network of Catholic nuns working against human trafficking, has called for better policies to protect and prevent human trafficking in the Southeast Asian country.
On Sunday, 4 February, several Philippine Church leaders observed the second National Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking titled "Listen, Dream, and Act".
Yesterday’s meeting was held at the Shrine of Mary, Our Lady of Peace, Quezon City, near Manila. The TKP was represented by Sister Evelyn Jose, Sister Elizabeth Pedernal and Sister Perlita Ponge.
Other religious organisations were also represented, namely the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), the Philippines Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC), the Philippine Children's Ministries Network (PCMN), and the International Justice Mission (IJM) Philippines.
“For TKP, networking and collaboration are very important to achieve the institutional and missionary objectives, to increase the capacity of professionalism and the quality of the processes and actions we develop,” Sister Pedernal said after the Mass.
“We act as our mission calls us to give integral attention to the victims and survivors, the trafficked persons, the migrants, and the most vulnerable ones we meet, assist, and give support,” she added.
For TKP, as well the other religious organisations, it is possible to improve communications and advocacy for these people; to this end, they call on the Philippine government to adopt public policies that provide legal and social protection to victims of trafficking.
The United States Congress passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection in 2000, which established minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking.
The Philippines is one of 30 countries that have met these standards in 2023, according to the latest report by the US State Department, which calls on the country to do more to prosecute and appropriately punish convicted traffickers.
According to TKP, the Philippines must also undertake initiatives to support victims of "labour trafficking” – i.e. workers treated as a mere commodity or targeted for their vulnerability to be exploited in certain jobs. This requires educating law enforcement, social care providers and labour inspectors about the signs of the new slavery.
According to TKP, it is necessary to boost funding to prevent the practice while ensuring that victims of trafficking receive the compensation mandated by courts. This entails giving law enforcement and anti-trafficking task forces the means to carry out timely investigations and support victims and witnesses.
Lastly, it is essential to foster inter-agency cooperation in the identification, tracking down, and prosecution of traffickers, via a consolidated database of illegal recruiters and human trafficking cases.
