UN anti-slavery board to support NGO recommendations on child rights

Speech delivered during the Dialogue with the UN Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery Board of Trustees

Tuesday, 28 November 2022, 10:00 – 11:00 (Geneva time)
By Francis Bermido Jr.
President of Preda Foundation, Inc.

PREDA News, – The Preda Foundation is a non-government organization founded in 1974 licensed and accredited by the Philippine government. We operate a healing center for girls who are victims of incestuous sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking, including those committed online. We help about 100 girl-victims every year- mostly referred by social workers of LGUs that don’t have child care facilities of their own. At present, there are 70 girls in the children’s home from six years old to 18. They participate in Emotional Release Therapy that enables them to overcome their trauma, discover their dignity and abilities and bring charges against their abusers.

During the pandemic, court hearings were held via online video conferencing tools. These online hearings spared the children the horror of facing their rapists in Court. This is still practiced in some family courts today but it is hoped that it will be institutionalized. The child-witness can be physically present in court to testify but the suspect has to attend the proceedings only virtually.

As we all know, what deters crime more effectively is not the severity of punishment but the certainty, or even the mere perception, that an offender will be apprehended and jailed. With the use of modern technology, Preda promotes preventive education by highlighting convictions against modern forms of slavery, in news articles posted on its Facebook page with more than 11,000 followers and on its website, in television reports and documentaries. Through our Facebook page, Preda is also able to offer help to victims in need of rescue.

Despite the successes there are challenges that hamper our work. Modern technology is pivotal in the online recruitment of children and women into sex slavery. Young vulnerable girls, most likely victims of domestic abuse, sometimes advertise themselves as sex objects on online platforms such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, and are contacted by traffickers and recruiters and offered jobs with high pay in the sex trade where they are trapped by debts and used as sex slaves.

The Philippines has more than 30 child protection laws like in many countries, the implementation is weak. We hope to see greater cooperation and compliance to existing laws, such as the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, by the telcos and Internet service providers. They have to use the latest, up-to-date AI-powered Webcrawlers or Data-mining softwares. In May 2023, the government approved the Implementing Rules of the 2022 Anti-OSAEC law that expanded the responsibilities of social media platforms and other internet and financial intermediaries.

We hope the Philippine Secretary of Justice will be true to his word when he said that the NTC can issue fines on the ISPs on a daily basis for non-compliance and that they can be closed down if they refuse to cooperate. States must also study legislation that would make social media platforms liable for the content found on their platforms.

The Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center (PICACC) has become a model of international collaboration and public-private partnership for other countries in addressing online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC). It’s creation has resulted into the arrest of hundreds of facilitators of OSAEC, the rescue of hundreds of victims, and sometimes the criminal conviction of perpetrators in their home countries.

Most of these are a result of tip-offs from international partners of the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation. Our recommendation is for the PNP to be trained in conducting its own undercover investigations because transmission of child sexual abuse materials happens both across national borders and domestically. Also, when an offender is tried and convicted in his home country, the penalty must automatically include compensation to the victim.

We at Preda help victims pursue justice. The challenge is that public prosecutors are burdened with too many cases, resulting into the delay in resolution of the cases. The children’s pursuit of justice is also stalled when suspects are not arrested and cases are archived. When this happens, there is always the danger that when the victims are reintegrated to their families, they would either be victimized again or pressured by whatever means to have the legal complaints dismissed. Up until now, prosecution still relies heavily on victim testimony.

In the Philippines, there are Family Courts presided by child-friendly judges. However, out of 183 supposed family courts, only 106 are organized. Some of these family courts are overloaded with cases. As such, even though the Supreme Court has issued orders enjoining judges to comply with “the prescribed periods to resolve pending cases, it still takes years before a case is resolved. In most courts, hearings are spaced three months apart. Trials last on average three years. This results into witness fatigue.

The Philippines needs a law establishing Children’s Courts. While more cases are being filed and tried ending in more convictions, thousands of child abuse cases are still not being reported. It is very important to have dedicated courts with experienced, highly-trained judges where only child abuse cases will be heard without delay.

There is still inadequate programs providing specialized care and healing program for trafficking victims. A few local governments operate their own shelters but they cater to their own constituents only. Very few NGOs operate therapeutic homes because these are costly. These programs must include aftercare programs for victims in the communities.

So, while we have achieved legislative milestones in the fight against online sexual abuse and exploitation of children, we are still challenged to convert our commitment into action and effective programs that protect the rights of children.

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