Philippines keeps Tier 1 rating in fight against human trafficking

The Philippines has kept its position as one of the countries whose governments have made sustained efforts to end human trafficking, according to a report from the US State Department.

In the 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report, the Philippines was ranked again under Tier 1—a status it has maintained since 2016.

The US State Department said countries under Tier 1 indicate that "a government has made efforts to address the problem" that meet the "minimum standards" of the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

“The Government of the Philippines fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government continued to demonstrate serious and sustained efforts during the reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore the Philippines remained on Tier 1,” the report said.

Among these efforts, the report said, were the identification of more victims than in 2020, drafting standard operating procedures to identify and monitor human trafficking victims, sentencing traffickers to significant prison terms, and the creation of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), which focuses on the security and welfare of Filipinos working abroad.

But while the government meets the minimum standards, the US State Department noted the Philippines "did not report vigorously investigating labor trafficking crimes" inside the country or did not "take adequate steps to investigate and arrest individuals suspected of purchasing commercial sex from trafficking victims, nor did it provide training for labor inspectors on indicators of human trafficking.”

"The government prosecuted and convicted fewer traffickers, and it did not report holding accountable officials allegedly complicit in human trafficking crimes," it said.

To bolster the country’s anti-human trafficking efforts, the US State Department recommended the following measures:

-Increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict complicit officials and labor traffickers.

-Strengthen the capacity of local government units to provide reintegration services for trafficking survivors, including trauma-informed care, job training, and in-country employment.

-Increase support to government and NGO programs that provide specialized care for trafficking victims, including child victims of online sexual exploitation.

-Establish and implement a process to ensure systematic and ongoing input from a diverse community of survivors on the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of anti-trafficking policies and programs.

-Increase efforts to ensure victims receive court-ordered restitution and compensation ordered through civil judgments.

-Increase resources for anti-trafficking task forces to conduct timely investigations, coordinated operations, and prosecutions while providing robust victim and witness assistance services.

-Increase efforts to identify and assist labor trafficking victims, including by providing training to law enforcement, social service providers, and labor inspectors on indicators of trafficking.

-Increase resources for law enforcement units designated to investigate all forms of trafficking.

-Consistently implement the coordinated interagency response to providing services to returning Filipinos exploited in sex and labor trafficking overseas.

-Create a central database for information on illegal recruiters and human trafficking cases to facilitate interagency coordination in detecting, investigating, and prosecuting traffickers.

Along with the Philippines, Tier 1 nations included, among others, Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the US. —VBL, GMA News