UN calls for more donations to anti-slavery fund

The United Nations (UN) has appealed to the Philippines and other member-states to contribute to a fund helping victims of slavery after the international organization noted a marked decrease in donations received in recent years. The UN human rights office said more than $6 million is needed to help 436 projects that applied for the grant, but contributions to the UN Voluntary Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery only stand at $365,000 this year. “With the present funds, only six percent of the projects requested will receive support," Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spokesperson Rupert Colville said in a statement posted on the UN website last September 16. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged member-states to support the fund, saying that contemporary forms of slavery still exist throughout the world. “The Voluntary Fund has helped thousands break free from slavery and recover their lives – not through expensive projects, but through small grants to grassroots initiatives," she said. She added that root causes of slavery, such as poverty, marginalization and racism, also have to be individually addressed by member-states to solve the problem. UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Gulnara Shahinian, meanwhile said that the fund has helped more than 400 projects worldwide during the past 20 years. “I have visited projects funded through grants provided to local actors and seen the tangible results. I have met survivors, heard their terrible stories and hopes and witnessed real change," she said. Last June, the United States removed the Philippines from its human trafficking watch list, but noted that the Philippine government “still does not fully comply with minimum standards to eliminate trafficking." Human trafficking, considered as a modern-day form of human slavery, is the illegal trade in human beings for forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation.- AC/KBK, GMA News