How can LGUs prevent human trafficking in their areas?

The Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) has one answer: it drafted a model ordinance that provides for the formation of a Local Committee on Anti-Trafficking and Violence Against Women and their Children.

This committee will oversee the local campaign against trafficking in persons and submit annual reports to IACAT on the situation of human trafficking in their areas.

The ordinance takes off from the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 which mandates LGUs to “monitor and document cases of trafficking in persons in their areas of jurisdiction.”

State Prosecutor Deana Perez said this model ordinance is part of IACAT’s decentralization and localization efforts “to effectively bring the campaign against human trafficking closer to where they happen.”

The draft ordinance has been presented to partner organizations which attended IACAT’s series of anti-human trafficking conferences last year, and has been revised since then. It will then be circulated to various LGUs for their adoption.

The model ordinance provides for the creation of a Local Joint Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons to ensure the effective prosecution of trafficking cases.

This task force will inspect establishments reported as being used for trafficking activities, as well as cancel licenses of establishments that violate the human trafficking law.

Under the proposed ordinance, LGUs will conduct information campaigns with the help of concerned agencies like the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Moreover, priority will be given community-based groups that will assist organizations engaged in the protection, recovery, and reintegration of trafficking victims.

See the model ordinance here.