Links to two official websites on human trafficking and child prostitution

I had reason to reasearch these subjects for something else and found these good and infomative websites, which I am posting here on the grounds that it is better to know something about the dark underside of society, if we hope to understand the bright and sunny bits:


First, human trafficking in the Philippines

http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/philippines

Second, child sex tourism; click through to get to the Philippines section..



http://www.ecpat.net/EI/Regionals_EAP.asp

To what degree does the CFO put a block on this? (Trafficking)

It looks to me as if the intention behind it is exactly that - and I must say that it seems that the Philippines Government has been improving hand over fist in both these areas (child sex tourism and human trafficking) in the past few years.

Sadly, I suspect that there will be a way to get round the CFO, because the value of the racket is so large, but I don't know what it would be. Years ago, it was very easy for people to get fake Philippines passports (they were excellent fakes, because they were real Philippines passports which had been stolen from the DFA as blanks, with first class copies of the "chops" needed used to complete them) and these were used by traffickers. It might be possible for them to do something similar with the CFO.

The trouble is that the people being trafficked are like lambs to the slaughter (sometimes, alas, literally) because they desperately want to believe the lies the traffickers have told them about the wonderful prospects that their new job "in abroad" offers them and they are wanting to help their families, so the victims will lie to the very people trying to help them.

Years ago my ex-wife was approached in Kowloon by two sixteen year old girls who had been promised jobs as waitresses in Hong Kong and found themselves in a girlie bar in Lockhart Road - their passports (fakes) had been taken by their "manager" so she burgled the flat in Mody Road where they and the manager lived to recover the passports and bought them both tickets to Manila. One went happily back to her parents but the other was terrified to do so because of the "loan" extorted by the traffickers for her wonderful job in Hong Kong, so we put her up for a few weeks until things calmed down.

Kay was very nearly the victim of a trafficker when she first arrived in the big city - she was offered a wonderful job in Canada - but luckily the trafficker was arrested for illegal recruitment before she boarded the plane to what I know, but she did not know, would have been a brothel in Montreal or Quebec. Lucky escape.

I see. The impression I got was that the CFO were quite intrusive and overly thorough in their scrutiny of women leaving the Philippines on anything but a vacation. But I suppose it is perfectly possible, with rehearsal and coaching to slip through the CFO net?

Kay's got to get herself a CFO shortly; I'll be interested to know what she makes of it.

Yes. Me too. ( will be interested to know what Kay makes of it ) .

Filipinos require a CFO Passport sticker in order to live and work abroad. The DFA also requires this sticker if a Filipina wishes to change her surname in her Passport to that of her husband if married to a foreigner. The CFO requires that applicants attend an "orientation" seminar in either Manila or Cebu and these are sub-contracted to two religious Orders at the end of which they are issued with a certificate of attendance. I would always advise doing the seminar in Manila where it's a simple and civilised two-hour session rather than at Cebu where it takes all day.

The certificate and sticker are valueless unless accompanied by their Official Receipts, of course!

How well these objectives work is the question....

ANTI-TRAFFICKING ACTIVITIES:
"CFO provides mandatory guidance and counseling services to departing Filipino spouses and partners of foreign nationals. These services intend to assist Filipino spouses and other partners of foreign nationals in making informed decisions on intermarriage and settlement overseas. Topics covered during the counseling program include migration laws, welfare and support services abroad, issues and concerns in intercultural marriages, among others. In 2004, CFO extended counseling services to 18,933 Filipino spouses and other partners of foreign nationals.
During the counseling sessions, would-be trafficking victims are detected through the CFO watchlist, a database that enables CFO counselors to identify foreigners who are involved in trafficking activities under the pretext of intermarriage. More than 2,000 suspected trafficking and/or prospective domestic violence victims are provided with intensive counseling sessions every year."

Thanks!

I doubt if this would catch trafficked women - a one on one interview in depth might do so, but a group orientation session will just be seen as a tiresome formality.A woman who has come to trust her traffickers is unlikely to be deterred by this. As with so much modern legislation, not just in the Philippines, the intention is good but it has not been thought through.

Attempts to locate the Commission on Filipinos Overseas' website have so far proved vain...

I notice it is unavailable just now. But it has always been there in the past. There is useful info on it for those wanting a CFO sticker (current fees etc).

The missus did hers with the lovely nuns. (Lol) they however issued the cert for UK entry whereas it was actually for Portugal ,duh so the family left as tourists with a shengan visa and return airline tickets fun for the future when passport renewal comes up

Ah. It seems to be working today.

Thank you.