Philippines: The 10-member Asean should come up with a comprehensive regional approach to counter and combat all forms of human trafficking, a top Malacañang official proposed. Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr said the regional bloc - composed of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - should adopt an “action plan” to address the problem.
“While there are universal mechanisms that address human trafficking or trafficking in persons, there is no regional mechanism that particularly and especially deals with such issues in Southeast Asia,” he said.
The Philippines is hosting the third Asean Experts Working Group against human trafficking from April 25 to 26, and Ochoa hopes this will strengthen the commitment of member-countries to fight this regional problem.
Experts from the Asean are trying to work out either a binding convention on human trafficking or a less stringent “regional plan of action” to enable Asean to act in unison. “There must be a regional action plan within the scope of each Asean members’ domestic laws and policies to effectively address regional challenges common to all Asean members in the fight against human trafficking,” Ochoa added.
He said the action plan should include an integrated, cohesive and a more structured monitoring and reporting mechanism on human trafficking in order to prevent and suppress trafficking in persons in the region.
THE PHILIPPINE STAR
