Second Batch of Filipino Human Trafficking Victims from Syria Coming Home

26 February 2021–The second batch of seven (7) Filipina wards from the Philippine Embassy shelter in Damascus is finally coming home. The Filipinas departed Syria on Thursday evening, (February 25) and are scheduled to arrive at the NAIA Saturday afternoon (February 27).

All repatriates are victims of human trafficking and were illegally hired to work in Syria from being tourists in Dubai. This second batch of repatriates reduces to 25 the number of Filipinas currently housed at the Philippine Embassy shelter in Damascus. The first batch of six (6) Filipina repatriates previously arrived in Manila on February 4. The 25 Filipinas in the Embassy shelter, to date, are awaiting their scheduled repatriation to the Philippines. They are all undocumented workers in Syria who ran away from their employers due to harsh working conditions.

The Department of Foreign Affairs continues to lobby hard with the Syrian authorities and employers to secure exit clearances for the repatriates. The DFA is using its Assistance-to-Nationals Fund and the Legal Assistance Fund to continuously assist the remaining wards with their ongoing court cases, including making representations with Syrian immigration, for the grant of exit visas for their eventual repatriation to the Philippines.

As with the first batch of repatriates, the Department, through its Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in Damascus, coordinated with the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking (IACAT) led by the Department of Justice to assist this second batch of repatriates to file criminal complaints against the traffickers who victimized them in their home provinces, in Dubai, and in Syria. The victims have prepared their complaint-affidavits at the shelter in Damascus with the assistance of the Philippine Embassy. END