10 January 2014 - The Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA’s) Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) and the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) conducted, through technical assistance from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), a training course on Trafficking in Persons (TIP) for Philippine foreign service personnel on December 19, 2013.


Around 40 personnel participated in the training. This included OUMWA staff who coordinate assistance to TIP victims, as well as other personnel from the DFA, the Department of Social Welfare and Development Department of National Defense, Department of Labor and Employment and other agencies who will soon be deployed at various Philippine Embassies and Consulates abroad.

DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Jesus I. Yabes opened the proceedings by emphasizing that the participants have an important duty in protecting Filipinos from being victimized by TIP, as well as in assisting Filipino TIP victims abroad.

UNODC Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officers Ms. Rachelle Gershuni and Ms. Morgane Nicot, along with OUMWA Special Assistant Mr. Renato Villa, trained the participants on understanding the key TIP concepts and the existing legal frameworks in the Philippines and in other countries, as well as on how to properly assist TIP victims.

This training is part of the DFA’s continuing program to update the capacity of the Philippine foreign service in protecting the rights of overseas Filipinos, and assisting Filipinos in distress abroad. The Philippine Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Vienna assisted in securing technical assistance from the UNODC for this training. END