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USG Trafficking in Persons Initiatives in the Philippines
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) currently manages five projects that combat trafficking in persons in the Philippines. These include three grants funded by the U.S. State Department Global Bureau's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs' Regional Women's Issues Fund. USAID's Women in Development (WID) Office also funds two additional projects.
These anti- trafficking in persons initiatives focus on: prevention through awareness raising and educational campaigns; protection through provision of direct services to victims and potential victims; and prosecution through support for the effective implementation of the anti-trafficking law. Specifically, the projects are:
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A $165,000, one-year grant to the National Office of Mass Media (NOMM), a local non-governmental
organization, for the project "Trafficked! The Selling of Our Women." The project is conducting a media and public
information campaign on trafficking in persons. The Project's activities include daily radio drama, radio and television
spots, TV documentaries, press articles, texting services, and website development.
A $278,000, three-year grant to the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women - Asia Pacific (CATW-AP), for the project "Campaigning Against Trafficking in the Philippines." The project focuses on the following activities: conduct of preventive education seminars in communities most vulnerable to trafficking; conduct of consultations with appropriate government agencies to promote cooperation on trafficking cases; conduct of a vigorous campaign for the implementation of the Anti-Trafficking Law; promotion of sustained and systematic documentation of trafficking cases; conduct of an educational campaign targeting young men in selected areas; and sharing of best practices in combating trafficking and sexual exploitation.
A $78,000, three-year grant to End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT-Phils.) , for the project "Continuing Community Empowerment Against Sexual Exploitation of Children." The project aims to raise community awareness on trafficking of children in selected high-risk communities and seeks to empower children and youth through development workshops. It also documents the sexual exploitation of children in tourism, child trafficking, and child pornography.
An $84,000, eight-month USAID grant to the Visayan Forum Foundation (VFF), a local NGO, for the project "Protecting Victims and Potential Victims of Trafficking in Persons Towards Effective Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers." The project focuses on internal trafficking and provides direct services to victims and potential victims of trafficking through the operation of halfway houses. The halfway houses directly provide temporary shelter, repatriation, referral, and counseling to intercepted victims of trafficking at the Manila, Davao, Batangas, and Sorsogon ports. Other activities include: development of anti-trafficking information, education and communication materials, and dissemination in all ports covered by the project; conduct of basic orientation seminars and paralegal training of port partners; conduct of training on anti-trafficking for law enforcement agencies and selected family and regional trial courts.
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Component of USAID/Philippines' Rule of Law Effectiveness (ROLE) Project: The ROLE is a three-year project that provides technical assistance to support the Government of the Philippines' (GRP) anti-corruption and anti-money laundering activities, and justice system reform. The trafficking in persons component of the ROLE Project aims to strengthen effective enforcement of anti-trafficking law with the goal of increasing arrests and successful prosecutions of trafficking in persons violators. The project helps to build the capacity of officials, including the police, who handle trafficking cases and provide services to witnesses and victims. The project aims to improve the ability of officials track TIP cases, conduct investigations, gather evidence, build cases, and report on the actual filing of cases.