Child trafficking
FOR the past four years, the Philippines and the United States worked in unison to address the problem of child trafficking in this Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 million people.
Through the four-year US-Philippines’ Child Protection Compact (CPC) Partnership, the two governments worked quietly to combat all forms of child trafficking in the country.
Signed in 2017, the partnership was developed by the US and PH, documenting their commitment to achieve specified shared objectives related to increasing protection efforts for victims of online sexual exploitation and child trafficking.
Senior officials of the US and the Philippines conducted on April 29 the final high-level dialogue to mark accomplishments and outline next steps after the conclusion of the partnership.
The dialogue centered on recognizing the progress made over the last four years towards achieving the CPC Partnership’s objectives of improving the government’s capacity to investigate and prosecute cases of online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC).
During the meeting, Philippine officials, led by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, reaffirmed their commitment to combat all forms of child trafficking in this impoverished nation.
US Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Office acting Director Dr. Kari Johnstone, on the other hand, described as “tremendous” the accomplishments of the CPC Partnership during the last four years.
US Embassy Charge d’Affaires John Law said the strong partnership with the Philippine government to address OSEC and child trafficking improved Manila’s ability to prosecute child traffickers.
And we agree with various sectors that the government, through concerned offices and agencies, should employ all means to stop the exploitation of our youngsters, girls and boys.
Without doubt, our leaders will be drawing the ire of even the international community if we fail to go after those behind child trafficking and online sexual exploitation of children in the country.
