(Eagle News) — The first batch of Filipino human trafficking victims housed in the Philippine embassy shelter in Syria have been repatriated.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said the six Filipinas were scheduled to arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Saturday afternoon.
The DFA said they were among the 38 Filipinas currently housed at the Philippine Embassy shelter in Damascus who ran away from their employers due to harsh working conditions.
They are all undocumented workers in Syria, the department said.
The DFA said, through its Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in Damascus, it coordinated with the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking (IACAT) led by the Department of Justice to “assist the repatriates in the filing of criminal complaints against human traffickers who victimized them in their home provinces, in Dubai and in Syria.”
The victims have prepared their complaint-affidavits at the shelter in Damascus with the assistance of the Philippine Embassy, the department said.
It said its augmentation team was also departing Manila next week to “reinforce its current measures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of Filipino victims of trafficking currently staying in the Embassy’s shelter.”
“The augmentation team shall render humanitarian assistance and facilitate the repatriation of all the remaining distressed Filipino wards in the Embassy shelter and any other distressed Filipino national in Syria,” the DFA said.