Saturday, May 9, 2015

Leaders and representatives of the land-based recruitment industry will convene an anti-trafficking workshop on Monday (May 11)



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IACAT, POEA enlists support of recruitment industry in fight against human trafficking

by Susan Ople

Leaders and representatives of the land-based recruitment industry will convene an anti-trafficking workshop on Monday (May 11) to discuss and map out plans on how to help the government and other stakeholders in combating human trafficking, notably within the overseas employment sector.
Organized by the country’s biggest associations of recruitment agencies led by Elsa Villa of the Philippine Association of Service Providers Inc. (PASEI), Jun Macas of the Australia& New Zealand Association of Employment Providers of the Philippines Inc. (ANZAEPP), Ana Marie Nangan of the Pilipino Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan Inc. (PILMAT), and John Bertiz of the Philippine Recruitment Agencies Accredited to Saudi Arabia Inc. (PRAASA) in partnership with the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), the one-day seminar “Understanding the Expanded Anti-Trafficking Law in the Context of Philippine Overseas Employment” will be held at the New World Manila Bay Hotel, Malate, Manila.
It aims to orient the recruitment industry and various stakeholders in overseas employment on the relevant provisions of the Expanded Anti-Trafficking Law. It also aims to forge a strategic framework for cooperation and collaboration in the fight against human trafficking for the land-based recruitment industry in partnership with other stakeholders.
Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., author of Senate Resolution No. 1325 seeking a Senate review of ongoing efforts to fight human trafficking, will deliver the keynote speech while Assistant Secretary Neil Simon Silva of the Department of Justice will convey a message of solidarity.
Prosecutor Jonathan Lledo, chief of IACAT’s National Anti-Trafficking Task Force, will discuss the salient provisions of the Expanded Anti-Trafficking Act, while Philippine Overseas Employment Administration Director Robert Larga will provide the recruitment agencies with information on Forced Labor Trafficking and Debt Bondage.
Fiscal Darlene Pajarito, executive officer of IACAT’s Task Force Operations and Monitoring, will share her views on human trafficking for employment agents and recruiters. Pajarito was a recipient of the US State Department’s Trafficking-in-Persons Hero Award in 2011.
Civil society leaders Susan Ople of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute, Carmelita Nuqui of Philippine Migrant Rights Watch and Jean Enriquez of the Coalition Against Trafficking of Women Asia Pacific (CATWAP) will share their experiences in the fight against trafficking particularly in relation to overseas employment.
On the part of the recruitment agencies, Nora Braganza, who heads the Committee on Education and Development of ANZAEPP, will discuss recommended practices and processes in an ethical recruitment organization. (30)
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