We are organizing a conference to be held in the Philippines in 2008, on the issues of violence against women migrant workers  and trafficked women and girls.  The Philippines, a major source of female migrant labor, has been in some ways a model for change, and at the same time it is struggling to find solutions.

Why be Concerned about Violence Against Trafficked and Migrant Women Workers?

o    The Philippines sends about 3000 workers abroad every day:  in total, approximately 8 million Filipinos, or 1 in 10 are abroad.  About 70 % of these workers are women.
o    Filipino women working overseas account for US$2 billion in annual foreign exchange remittances. Close to 35 million Filipinos rely on overseas workers’ remittances.
o    At least 700 Filipino workers, mostly women, die each year due to mistreatment or abuse by employers.
o    In 2005 alone there were 9.5 million victims of forced labor in Asia; an estimated 1.2 million children and adolescents under the age of 18 are affected every year.
o    Most of them go abroad to do demeaning, dirty or dangerous work in order to support their families in the Philippines.  Poverty drives people, especially young people, toward risky behaviors such as sex work. Young people are often hardest hit by poverty because their specific needs are often inadequately addressed by governments
Scope of the Conference

The conference will be organized into four themes, with panels and programs in each area followed by combined sessions to develop the interrelationship among the themes:
•    Legal: reform and enforcement of the laws and international human rights norms regarding trafficking and migration
•    Human Rights: education, publicity and awareness that violence against women is a human rights issue
•    Economic Empowerment: examination of means by which women can free themselves of situations that breed violence, with particular attention to the use of remittances, microfinance, and entrepreneurship
•    Leadership: examining tools to develop women as leaders, so that the role of women’s issues in development are fully considered
 
Time and Place:  November, 2008, Manila,  Philippines

Who We ARE

The NCRFW has agreed to convene this conference. The initial planning group includes Sylvia Lichauco, the Wellesley Centers for Women, the United Nations Women’s Fund (UNIFEM), the Fund for Women in Asia. Zainab Salbi of Women to Women International and other organizations have expressed interest in actively participating.