ILIGAN CITY – A Child Rights Consortium commended the passing of the “Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2022” which is aimed at strengthening anti-trafficking measures and boost the efforts of stakeholders in the community-level implementation.
The House of the Representatives also voted to approve on third reading the House Bill (HB) 10703, or the Anti-Online or Offline Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Act of 2022.
“The legal framework provides for the foundation of our actions in combatting against online sexual abuse and exploitation of children and human trafficking. The bills will facilitate enforcement of community obligations towards the safety of its citizenry and ensure achievement of rights,” said PCMN National Director, Fe Foronda, on how the bills (HB 10658 and SB 2449) will build up the ongoing interventions of local stakeholders against sexual exploitation of children and human trafficking.
The International Justice Mission (IJM) said it is also pleased to note that Congress passed the bill. It said Internet communications technologies have grown exponentially during the last 10 years and although it has made lives easier, it has also made committing crimes against children easier.
“It is high time that the Anti- trafficking in Persons Act was strengthened to make it more responsive to emerging trends and enable the use of technology to the law's advantage instead of allowing it to perpetrate online sexual exploitation of children,” said Atty. Samson Inocencio, Jr., Regional Vice President of IJM Global Programs Against Online Sexual Exploitation of Children.
As member of the Consortium, the Philippine Children’s Ministries Network has been working with the Child Rights Network in policy advocacy and has joined forces with partners like the Philippine Interfaith Movement Against Human Trafficking to campaign and raise awareness on sexual exploitation of children, both at the national and local levels.
The Consortium is actively advocating for the institutionalization of a Human Trafficking Prevention Education Program through school-based and community-based programs. In collaboration with the Department of Education, it has conducted a pilot program on prevention education through the roll-out of the safety of children online worksheets to 69 public schools in Dasmarinas City and Iligan City which reached 109,000 students.
The Consortium said it supports policy change not only on national bills but also through local ordinances to protect children against sexual abuse and exploitation. Through the passing of these bills, the Consortium strongly advocates for its full implementation for the protection of children from sexual abuse and exploitation in all aspects. (Mark Navales and Malou Cablinda contributed to this report.)
No comments:
Post a Comment