Fight Human Trafficking in the Philippines

Human Trafficking is perhaps the greatest and gravest human rights challenge of our time. It is almost a universal problem and globally recognized as modern day form of slavery. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world are put into a condition of grave psychological, physical and sexual abuse due to this inhumane practice.

This illegal trade that turns people into commodities is one of the most profitable industries in the world, next only to guns and drugs. Current estimates of the United States Government put its global profit at $32 billion.

Trafficking is a crime that transcends borders and does not care about age, gender or race. It is a serious crime, a threat to every society. It perpetuates poverty as it preys on the most vulnerable members of society especially the youth.

In the Philippines where forced migration (i.e., migration for monetary and financial reasons) is a daily reality, human trafficking continues to be a constant fear among those seeking better fortunes, but it has yet to be ceased or, at the very least, lessened.

Human trafficking continues to thrive in the Philippines, rendering at least 400,000 women and at least 100,000 children victims of exploitation, either as unwilling workers in the sex trade, abused domestic and factory workers, or unsuspecting pawns in the drug trade.

Seeking to address this situation head-on, the Visayan Forum Foundation is working with Zonta Club of Makati to mobilize the public, communities, students, and the private sector, most especially the industries involved in land, sea, and air transportation, with a fun run/fundraiser, the Run against Trafficking (RAT) Race.

It is an apt meeting of minds and advocacies—Visayan Forum Foundation is a Philippine-based NGO working towards the empowerment of Pinoy migrant workers, while the Zonta Club of Makati is a regional charter of Zonta International, which aims to empower and improve the situation of women and children worldwide.

The two organizations are seeking to raise not only funds, but also awareness among the public and private sectors of the city. The funds raised in the fun run will go towards the victims of human trafficking and towards the ongoing fight against human trafficking—creating concrete and cohesive actions from various stakeholders, and to address the situation in every aspect—including the source communities (i.e., areas from which men, women, and children who are potential victims are rooted and taken from), transit areas (i.e., places within the country where humans trafficked from other countries are taken to before being transported to other destinations) and destinations.

THE RUN AGAINST TRAFFICKING Race - Sunday, 13 March 2011 (1K, 3K, 5K, 10K) at McKinley Hill, Taguig City. Assembly is at 5:00 AM & Gun Start 5:50AM. Registration Sites: R.O.X and Chris Sports. For more info call: Ida Ayesa 0916-418-7257 or visit this website.