Human trafficking awareness

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor ERIC T. LORETIZO Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

Trafficking of persons is just another term for modern-day slavery that also involves human beings who are bought, sold, and forced into slave labor or sexual exploitation. Human trafficking is distinct from people smuggling in that it involves the exploitation of migrants, often for purposes of forced labor and prostitution.

According to Interpol reports, women from developing countries and young children all over the world are especially vulnerable to trafficking, smuggling, or sexual exploitation.

The Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking of Persons and the Rule of Law Effectiveness Program of the USAID have identified Negros Oriental as one of the strategic trafficking hotspots in Central Visayas in Region 7.

The report says that the province is one of the major recruitment grounds for victims of potential exploitation, especially women, from the hinterland barangays of the municipalities as well as young children in the province and all over Region 7. Victims are spotted daily in key transit and destination areas such as ports and bus terminals, and hundreds or more may be rescued by the authorities from prostitution and bonded labor.

The group will spearhead a massive information campaign that will focus national attention on the problem, and mobilize support from the public and key institutions in combating the various forms of trafficking, smuggling or sexual exploitation.

We hope and pray that this campaign against human trafficking is not just for the sake of pleasing the international community, but more with the aim of protecting our unsuspecting migrant workers, many of whom end up with their lives in ruins, or even lost.*