Carolinian Justice Advocate Awareness Seminar: “Engaging the Youth to Combat against Human Trafficking”
Photographed by Joanna Mariblanca
” Children, men and women are treated as commodities rather than human beings.” -Rhyle Sayat
As of today, millions of people around the world are secluded from freedom. Instead of working or going to school, these people are being shipped by individuals from one place to another. Human trafficking is one of the major crimes the world is encountering today, especially the Filipinos. However, how well is this issue emphasized for general awareness?
The Carolinian Justice Advocate was given the chance to conduct a seminar towards the youth on fighting against human trafficking. The Justice Awareness Seminar on “Engaging the Youth to Combat against Human Trafficking” was held on May 17, 2014 at 9AM in the American Corner of the Bonks Library of the University of San Carlos-Downtown Campus.
Officers from USC Organizations like the Carolinian Political Science Society, SYBEE, Electrical Council Engineering Council, Dynamic Communication Society, Industrial Engineering Council and JPIA were all present to participate during this seminar. The University of the Philippines was also invited to join the seminar.
MTV Exit presented a documentary to start off the seminar regarding the lives of victims undergoing human trafficking. Each one of them all described what they have been through and why they became victims of human trafficking ever since. Jam Loreto, an incoming fourth year Political Science student, opened up on her thesis and the data she has gathered about human trafficking.
The first speaker, Mr. Julius Bungcaras, introduced his talk on International Justice Mission (IJM), an international organization that promotes to provide rescue for people undergoing hardships. IJM has its own organization in Cebu that opened in 2007. Mr. Bungcaras spoke about the program strategies of IJM, namely, legal advocacy, victim aftercare and community mobilization, where IJM affiliates with organizations, society groups, churches non government organizations and other sectors.
The second speaker, Rhyle Sayat, a fifth year Accountancy student, spoke about what human trafficking is and how these can affect the people in the society physically, socially and psychologically. Mr. Sayat described human trafficking in three words: acts, means and purpose. He explains the act of human trafficking and the reason of its existence on society. He further expounds on the existing factors attached to the act of human trafficking namely: pressure from peers; cultural factors, people’s desire to be urbanized; personal factors, people wanting to leave their family, and economic factors, poverty and financial problems.
The third speaker, Wilma Rama, a student taking up Bachelor of Laws in the University, spoke on the actions taken by the government with regards to the issue of human trafficking. Rama discussed the effects of human trafficking on children, its difference between prostitution, the different acts of trafficking, accomplices and accessories and promoting trafficking and the penalties that accompany the different acts, where the common penalty among the different penalties is 15 years imprisonment and a one million peso fine.
Carolinian Justice Advocate persuades the Carolinian students to join not only the advocacy against human trafficking, but also to become one against the many issues of the society.
