29 April 2014 - Officials in the Philippine Embassies and Consulates General in the Middle East and African region undertook a pledge of commitment to continue to strive for a world without human trafficking at the closing of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Regional Workshop on Trafficking in Persons for Foreign Service Posts (FSPs), in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The Regional Workshop, which was held from April 22 to 27 in Ankara, Turkey, was organized to enhance the institutional capacity of the FSPs in the Middle East and Africa to assist Filipinos who are victims of or vulnerable to human trafficking. The Workshop modules focused on the basic concept of trafficking in persons, the international and Philippine legal frameworks in combating human trafficking, proper victim identification and protection, referral system, available aid to victims, case management, psychosocial counseling and the link between gender and trafficking.
The participants benefited from the experiences and insights of esteemed experts who served as resource speakers. They were UNODC Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer Nicot Morgane, UNODC Associate Program Officer Szilvia Petkov, IOM PAVE Regional Project Manager Fitriana Nur, UNODC Mental Health Expert Dr. Ido Lurie, IOM-Turkey Emergency/Psychosocial Officer Mazen AboulHosn, DSWD Capacity Building Bureau Director Margarita V. Sampang, IOM-Turkey Counter-Trafficking Expert Anastasia Sağlam, IOM 157 Helpline Coordinator Dr. Gülbahar Semyatova, DFA-Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (DFA-OUMWA) Anti-Trafficking in Persons Expert Atty. Joel Peralta, DFA Gender and Development Secretariat Head Atty. Dyan Kristine Miranda-Pastrana and Social Welfare Attaché at the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah Perlita Panganiban.
Each Embassy and Consulate General also presented a snapshot of the human trafficking situation in their host countries.
"We will never be passive bystanders -- we will fight human trafficking with all of our abilities," the participants vowed. "We will enhance protection to persons vulnerable to being trafficked. We will assist victims and ensure their full reintegration to society."
The Regional Workshop was spearheaded by DFA-OUMWA, headed by Undersecretary Jesus I. Yabes and the Philippine Embassy in Ankara, led by Ambassador Rowena Mendoza-Sanchez.
The FSPs in the Middle East and Africa reported the highest number of Filipino trafficked victims and smuggled migrants in 2013, making the region a focus of the DFA's anti-trafficking in persons efforts. END
