THE INTER-AGENCY Council Against Trafficking in Persons (IACAT) XI collaborated with other non-government organizations to conduct a youth summit and peace-building activities to curb the global scourge.
The event is in line with the commemoration of the 2024 World Day Against Trafficking held on July 30.
About 400 youth leaders representing the 11 municipalities in Davao Region attended the event in Davao de Oro Provincial Capitol grounds. Booths with live actors also presented various forms of trafficking during the event.
Speakers from the Department of Justice XI, Department of Social Welfare and Development XI, Davao De Oro Provincial Government, and Global Impact Philippines Foundation gave informative lectures to fully equip participants in the fight against human trafficking.
“It’s a sad fact that the Philippines has a shockingly high rate of OSEAC (online sexual exploitation and abuse of children) on the international landscape, but government agencies and NGOs in Region XI are not sitting idly,” one of the members of the Global Impact Foundation Philippines said in a statement.
The Global Impact Phils Foundation as one of the active agency members of IACAT XI, is an international organization focused on empowering the youth and their potential through their projects and programs. Their Freedom Philippine campaign is centered on human trafficking awareness and works closely with the IACAT.
In a separate report, IACAT XI has recorded at least 341 trafficking-in-person (TIP) survivors in the entire region from 2013 to July this year.
IACAT XI chairperson Janet Grace Dalisay-Fabrero said that of the number, 105 are minors, most of whom are females in the 13 to 17 and 18 to 35 age groups. At least 63 cases are currently pending in courts, while 79 suspects have been convicted in the last 10 years.
The nature of the offenses include prostitution, sex trafficking or sexual exploitation, slavery, labor trafficking/ or forced labor, cybersex, pornography, child soldiers in armed conflict, and forced recruitment.
Photo from IACAT Onse Page
