Arroyo's Labor Export Policy and the GFMD Promotes the Trafficking of Filipinas – Gabriela Women's Party

Gabriela Women's Party today scored the Arroyo government and the Global Forum for Migration and Development (GFMD) for the intensified trafficking of Filipino women and children, through a protest parade today at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pasay City.

Dubbed the "Parade of Pinays for Export (PX)," the protest action highlighted the plight of trafficked Filipinas as mail order brides, domestic workers and caregivers, and prostituted women in countries such as the US, Singapore, Japan, Kuwait, and Canada, among others.

According to reports, some 300,000 to 400,000 Filipinas are victims of trafficking yearly. They are among the 12.3 million victims of forced labor or servitude worldwide.

"Pres. Arroyo's labor export policy legitimizes the trafficking of our women and children to precarious and exploitative situations in host countries. Without jobs and livelihood within the Philippines, victims are lured, deceived and facilitated by profit-hungry syndicate recruiters and even government officials with promises of different jobs, good compensation, high wages and benefits," said Cristina Palabay, Gabriela Women's Party Secretary General.

According to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippines belongs to the top five countries in the world as origins of human trafficking victims, 80% of the victims are female minors. The Department of Foreign Affairs reported some 238 cases of trafficking in 2007, 212 of these are cases of sex trafficking in Singapore.

Despite the enactment of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act in 2003, Palabay observed that there were only 8 convictions involving 11 persons out of more than 200 cases filed in violation of the law since 2003.

Palabay also said that by highlighting the Philippine government as the role model among nations for exporting labor and by pursuing regular and protective forms of migration, the GFMD's role in the promotion of trafficking of women and children becomes clearer.

"The GFMD sees trafficking not just mere obstacles to legal migration. With the generation of some $28 billion from the illegal industry of trafficking of women and children, it is seen as a profitable industry in the scheme of labor migration as a tool for development. It betrays the GFMD's agenda in legitimizing trafficking as well," the woman leader commented.

Gabriela Women's Party will participate in the International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees, a counter forum to the GFMD, on October 28-30, 2008. It will likewise participate in the Joint Consultation with the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights of Migrants and on Contemporary Forms of Slavery to share the party's views on forced migration and trafficking of women and children.