UN human rights expert to visit Phl next week

MANILA, Philippines - Combating human trafficking not only involves apprehension of the perpetrators but the recognition of the human rights of trafficked persons, especially women and children.

That will be among the many concerns of United Nations Special Rapporteur Joy Ngozi Ezeilo when she makes her first visit to the Philippines on Nov. 5 to 9.

“I hope to hear and learn views of trafficked persons and other stakeholders to ensure a human rights-based approach to combating trafficking in persons, as part of my mandate to promote respect for the human rights of trafficked persons,” Ezeilo said.

Ezeilo is an independent expert mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to advocate the prevention of trafficking in persons in all its forms and to encourage measures to uphold and protect the human rights of victims.

“I also look forward to discussing with the government and all relevant authorities the achievements and challenges in their efforts to combat all forms of human trafficking in the country,” she said in a press statement.

Ezeilo will visit Manila and Zamboanga and meet with representatives of various government agencies and the judiciary, as well as members of international and civil society organizations, and victims of trafficking in her five-day mission.

Along the way, she will also visit Cebu to meet with civil society organizations.

Her findings and recommendations will be presented in a report at a forthcoming session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Ezeilo, a human rights lawyer and professor at the University of Nigeria, observed that criminalization is not an end in itself.

“In addition to criminalizing trafficking in persons, States must ensure the criminalization of other crimes relating to trafficking in persons, including – but not limited to – corruption, money-laundering, debt bondage, obstruction of justice and participation in organized criminal groups,” she said.

She said that timely and accurate identification of victims is crucial for effective criminal justice responses to trafficking, since it affects the ability of law enforcement officials to prosecute traffickers and allows the provision of necessary support services to trafficked persons.

The identification of trafficked persons is often complex and in practice, trafficked persons are often arrested, detained and charged as smuggled or undocumented workers.

Ezeilo also noted that efforts to distinguish victims from perpetrators are often complicated by the problem of ‘imperfect’ victims, who may have committed crimes, whether willingly or as a result of force, fraud or coercion, in the process of becoming a trafficking victim.

At its 60th session, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted decision 2004/110, by which it decided to appoint, for a three-year period, a special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, to focus on the human rights aspects of victims of trafficking in persons.

In the same decision, the Commission invited the special rapporteur to submit annual reports to the Commission together with recommendations on measures required to uphold and protect the human rights of victims.