CEBU, Philippines – The International Justice Mission will be tapping the business sector in Cebu for its project to help victims of human trafficking find livelihood upon their return to the community.
As it ensures justice for victims of sexual exploitation and other forms of oppression, IJM is also making sure that victims of human trafficking, mostly women and children, would have a life after undergoing through such bad experiences.
Andrei Sawchenko, of the IJM counsels, said that they have already rescued more than a 100 victims of human trafficking.
Sawchenko explained that after they are housed in shelters for their recovery, the victims will go back to their respective communities, saying that it is important that the victims would have something that will help them gain income.
Sawchenko said that through the self-sufficiency project, the victims would be given a way to go through with their usual way of life.
According to Sawchenko, they are hoping for a strong partnership with the business sector, especially the Cebu Chamber of Commerce, with regards to the project, which will have soft and hard trainings.
He explained that the soft skills training would be more on personality development, commu-nication skills and other personal enhancement exercises like on hygiene, while the hard skills training would be on different duties in a work place.
Through the help of the business sector, Sawchenko said the victims would be aided not only in job readiness but also in job placement.
Meanwhile, Sawchenko admitted that as of now, they could not say the real number of cases of human trafficking in Metro Cebu, saying only that “it is a real problem.”
He said that in the past two years, the victims that they have saved in Cebu were mostly from other areas in Visayas and Mindanao. Some of these victims are still under their care while others have already returned to their provinces. – AJ de la Torre/LPM (THE FREEMAN)