The Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) is set to educate more barangay (village) residents this year against human trafficking, and sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
The announcement was made by IACAT, a council led by the Department of Justice (DOJ), after launching last Aug. 22 the three-day Barangay IACAT 2.0 Community Program in Antipolo City.
“When it comes to offenses as widespread and as urgent as these (human trafficking cases), we believe that there is strength in numbers,” DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix L. Ty said.
“Through the Barangay IACAT initiative, we are able to empower communities, foster collaboration, and build capacity at the grassroots level to protect our most vulnerable citizens,” said Ty, the DOJ official in charge of IACAT.
Before the year ends, Ty also said that “Barangay IACAT is set to engage with local authorities across the nation, where they will tailor-fit the activation to the needs identified and insights shared by the communities concerned.”
The DOJ said the three-day grassroots activation held in Antipolo City was “aimed to raise awareness and mobilize community-wide action against human trafficking and online sexual abuse or exploitation of children (OSAEC).”
It said the program during the three-day event included a town hall meeting, providing a platform for open dialogue and insights sharing among public servants, stakeholders, and citizens of Antipolo City, as well as capacity-building sessions, equipping barangay officials and local partners with the knowledge and tools they need to attack trafficking, abuse, and exploitation head on.
“All these activities were meant to help the local government of Antipolo and its constituents identify, prevent, and respond to trafficking cases within their own homes and circles of influence,” it said.