MANILA: Activists in the Philippines have questioned the US government for giving the Asian country its highest ranking in a report that assesses how much countries are battling human trafficking, putting it alongside the likes of Britain, Switzerland and Australia.
They weren’t convinced it was justified given that the Philippines has a huge sex industry spreading online, and many of the 10 million Filipinos working overseas – often as domestic workers – remain at risk of slavery as they attempt to flee poverty at home, reported ABS-CBN News.
“In a nutshell, the fight to end human trafficking and modern slavery is far from over,” Maria Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, executive director of the Visayan Forum Foundation, a non-government organization helping victims of human trafficking in the Philippines, reportedly said. “The thing is, when you are hungry or when your child is sick, you tend to make uninformed decisions. This, coupled by a culture of migration, poses risks of exploitation and abuse.”
The US State Department’s 2016 “Trafficking in Persons” (TIP) report pointed out that the Philippines government “fully met” minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, although it noted that forced labour and sex trafficking “remains a significant problem”.
The Philippines is one of Washington’s key allies in Asia.
Darlene Pajarito, executive director of the Philippine government’s Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), reportedly said the upgrading of the Philippines was a recognition of the work it had done to combat trafficking over the years.
“Tier 1 does not mean the Philippines is already free of trafficking,” she was quoted as saying by ABS-CBN News. “There are still cases and these are still happening but we have increased government’s capacity to stop illegal activities, put more people in prison and make more people aware of trafficking.”
IACAT’s 2015 annual report, on which the State Department’s decision was based, according to Pajarito, says more than 700 victims were rescued from trafficking last year in the Philippines. Nearly 300 people were arrested for trafficking offences, the report said.
