MikeLigalig.com

by pna

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 12 has established a referral and data management system to strengthen the implementation of the government’s Recovery and Reintegration Program for Trafficked Persons (RRPTP).

Amina Dataya, social technology unit head of DSWD-Region 12, said the move was part of their ongoing efforts to properly address the needs of victims of human trafficking and other related cases.

She said they initially linked up with local government units (LGUs) in the region to facilitate the establishment of the referral system and installation of the data management system for victims of human trafficking in the area.

Dataya said they recently conducted three-day training for LGU implementers on the handling of database of trafficked persons as part of the RRPTP that were attended by social workers, local focal persons on trafficking program and members of the region’s Interagency Council Against Trafficking (ICAT).

“The training focused on the development of indicators on recovery and reintegration, the establishment of the referral system and the installation of the data management system,” she said.

Since January, Dataya said RRPTP has already served 165 victims of human trafficking in the region.

“We provided them basic economic assistance, skills training and offered some livelihood opportunities,” she said.

ICAT has been closely watching several areas in the region due to surge in human trafficking cases in the last several years.

Human traffickers operate in the form of illegal recruitment, illegal migration, mail order bride, foreign training or internship, religious pilgrimage and cultural exchange and promotion, she said.

Last May, the National Bureau of Investigation rescued 16 minors in Koronadal City who were recruited by an alleged human trafficker for supposed overseas jobs.