In Brief: Activists welcome Philippines' trafficking progress
| Publisher | IRIN |
| Publication Date | 29 June 2011 |
| Cite as | IRIN, In Brief: Activists welcome Philippines' trafficking progress, 29 June 2011, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4e1d98332.html [accessed 23 October 2022] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
MANILA, 29 June 2011 (IRIN) - Activists in the Philippines have welcomed this week's decision by Washington to remove the country from the Tier 2 Watch list of the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report.
"It is truly a relief. A consistent collaborative effort across all government agencies is needed to ensure that we stay off the watch list," Ruby Ramores, a programme officer for the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, told IRIN.
"Within just one year, there were 25 trafficking convictions. This is more than the total number of convictions in the past seven years," said Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, executive director of the Visayan Forum, an anti-trafficking NGO, said citing government efforts to deal with trafficking cases within 180 days of arrest.
For the past two years, the Philippines was on the Tier 2 watch list, meaning it had failed to show evidence of trying to meet minimum standards set out in the internationally recognized Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Another watch list rating might have meant the withdrawal of millions of dollars in non-humanitarian US aid.
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Theme (s): Gender Issues, Migration,
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
