After convictions, PHL off US human trafficking watch list

UPDATED 2:30 p.m. - The United States government has removed the Philippines from its Tier 2 Watch List on Monday (Tuesday morning in Manila) for having several convictions of human traffickers in the past year. According to the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report of the US State Department, although the Philippines "still does not fully comply with minimum standards to eliminate trafficking, Manila is making significant efforts to do so." Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton released the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report on Monday in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the Department of State. Human trafficking is the illegal trade in human beings for forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. In last year's US trafficking report, the Philippines was one of the 58 countries under the “Tier 2 Watch List," which included Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Mozambique, Algeria, Lebanon, Yemen, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Kazahkstan, Niger, Tunisia, Guatemala, Panama, Venezuela, China, and Russia, among others. Those under the "Tier 2 Watch List" are countries whose governments do not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards but are making significant efforts to comply with those standards. On the other hand, those under the Tier 2 category are "countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards." Aquino welcomes new PHL standing President Benigno Simeon Aquino III welcomed the removal of the Philippines from the US State Department’s human trafficking watch list, his spokesperson said onTuesday. “Certainly the President welcomes this upgrade. Certainly the President is very, very appreciative of the upgrade made by the State Department," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at a press briefing in Malacanang. Lacierda said Justice Secretary Leila de Lima informed the Aquino of the development. “We’d like to thank also the secretary of justice De Lima’s efforts on curbing human trafficking as well as all the other agencies involved in the fight against human trafficking," Lacierda said. Lacierda said the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), under the DOJ, did a lot on human trafficking and is still doing a number of efforts to stop it. Notable improvements The US State Department noted that "during the year, the Philippine Department of Justice and Supreme Court issued directives to expedite the disposition of backlogged trafficking cases." "The (Philippine) government convicted 25 trafficking offenders – an increase from nine convictions in the previous year – including two convictions in cases involving forced labor, the Philippines’ first-ever labor trafficking convictions," the report said. "The government enacted numerous measures and policies to improve institutional responses to human trafficking for this year and in future years, such as increased training of judicial, law enforcement, and diplomatic officials on trafficking issues; the creation and funding of anti-trafficking task forces in airports, seaports, regions, and localities; and an increase in dedicated staff to combating trafficking," the report added. The US State Department also cited the Philippines' "first ever conviction of a labor trafficking offender in February 2011." "The Philippines criminally prohibits both sex and labor trafficking through its 2003 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, which prescribes penalties that are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape," the report said. The US noted that during the reporting period, the Philippine government convicted 25 trafficking offenders in 19 cases – compared with nine traffickers convicted in six cases in the previous year. In February 2011, a labor trafficker who sold two women into domestic servitude in Malaysia was sentenced to 28 years’ imprisonment and fined over $28,000. Sentences for the other 24 convicted offenders ranged from six years’ to life imprisonment. Anti-human trafficking measures The US State Department noted that various Philippine government agencies enacted various measures to combat human trafficking. "In June 2010, the Department of Justice ordered prosecutors to make trafficking cases a priority, and in October, the Supreme Court issued a circular calling courts to expedite the disposition of trafficking cases and requiring that cases be decided within 180 days of arraignment," the report said. "In 2010, the Department of Justice designated 36 prosecutors in various national, regional, and airport task forces to work on anti-trafficking cases. In this task force model, for the first time, prosecutors are assigned to assist law enforcement in building cases against suspected trafficking offenders," the report added. The report also noted that the "Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continued to operate 42 temporary shelters for victims of all types of abuse. There are no reliable statistics on the total number of trafficking victims identified or assisted by the government during the year." US 2011 trafficking report The 2011 US trafficking in persons report said the Philippines "is a source country and, to a much lesser extent, a destination and transit country for men, women, and children who are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor." The US State Department noted that a significant number of Filipinos who migrate abroad for work become victims of "involuntary servitude" in factories, at construction sites, on fishing vessels, on agricultural plantations, and as domestic workers. "A significant number of women in domestic servitude abroad also face rape and violent physical and sexual abuse," the report said. "(Filipino) Women were subjected to sex trafficking in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan and in various Middle Eastern countries," the report added. The US State Department noted that internal trafficking also remains a significant problem in the Philippines. "People are trafficked from rural areas to urban centers including Manila, Cebu, the city of Angeles, and increasingly to cities in Mindanao, as well as within urban areas," the report said. The report noted that many Filipino men are subjected "to forced labor and debt bondage in the agriculture, fishing, and maritime industries." "Women and children were trafficked within the country for forced labor as domestic workers and small-scale factory workers, for forced begging, and for exploitation in the commercial sex industry," the report said. "Hundreds of victims are subjected to forced prostitution each day in well-known and highly visible business establishments that cater to both domestic and foreign demand for commercial sex acts," the report added. The report noted that "Child sex tourism remained a serious problem in the Philippines, with sex tourists coming from Northeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and North America to engage in the commercial sexual exploitation of children." The US State Department said "Filipino migrant workers, both domestically and abroad, who became trafficking victims were often subject to violence, threats, inhumane living conditions, nonpayment of salaries, and withholding of travel and identity documents." Partnership with organized crime syndicates The US State Department said traffickers team up with organized crime syndicates and unscrupulous law enforcement officers, for their fraudulent recruitment operations. "Recruiters took on new methods in attempts to get potential victims past immigration officers at airports and seaports. Traffickers utilized budget airlines, inter-island ferries and barges, buses, and even chartered flights to transport their victims domestically and internationally," the report said. Vulnerability to trafficking According to the report, a nongovernment organization estimated that there are over 900,000 undocumented Filipinos in the Philippines, mostly based in Mindanao. The US State Department said "the lack of official documentation is widely recognized as contributing to a population’s vulnerability to trafficking." "The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a separatist group, and the New People’s Army (NPA) were identified by the United Nations as among the world’s persistent perpetrators of violations against children in armed conflict, including forcing children into service," the report said. "During the year, there were continued reports to the United Nations that the Abu Sayyaf Group targeted children for conscription as both combatants and noncombatants," the report added. Recommendations for the Philippines The US State Department recommends the following actions for the Philippines to improve its handling of human trafficking cases:

"Sustain the intensified effort to investigate, prosecute, and convict effectively an increased number of both labor and sex trafficking offenders involved in the trafficking of Filipinos both within the country and abroad;

continue to fund and strengthen the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) and provide full-time staffing and management for the IACAT Secretariat; increase funding for anti-trafficking programs within IACAT member agencies;

address the significant backlog of trafficking cases by developing mechanisms to track and monitor the status of cases filed with the Department of Justice and those under trial in the courts;

strictly enforce anti-corruption laws and expedite adjudication of cases filed by the Ombudsman’s anti-trafficking task force;

conduct immediate and rigorous investigations of complaints of trafficking complicity by government officials and ensure accountability for leaders that fail to address trafficking-related corruption within their areas of jurisdiction;

strengthen anti-trafficking training for police recruits, line officers, and police investigators; make efforts to improve collaboration between victim service organizations and law enforcement authorities with regards to law enforcement operations;

make efforts to expand the use of victim processing centers to additional localities to improve identification of adult victims and allow for victims to be processed and assisted in a safe environment after a rescue operation;

increase victim shelter resources to expand the government shelter system to assist a greater number of trafficking victims, including male victims of both sex and labor trafficking;

increase funding for the Department of Justice’s program for the protection of witnesses and entry of trafficking victims into the program;

increase efforts to identify trafficking victims in destination countries and to pursue criminal investigation and prosecution of their traffickers; and

develop and implement programs aimed at reducing demand for commercial sex acts; and assess and improve methods to measure and address domestic and international labor trafficking. Tier Placements The US State Department's website cites the following categories: Tier 1 "Countries whose governments fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards" Tier 2 "Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards" Tier 2 Watch List "Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards AND: a) The absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing; or b) There is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year; or c) The determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year" Tier 3 "Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so" - VVP/HS, GMA News