Mary Jane Veloso coming home: please sign new petition for Clemency in the Philippines

Sign at: www.change.org/Clemency4MaryJane.
After 14 years of detention in Indonesia, Mary Jane Veloso will be returned to the Philippines this December 2024 through a diplomatic transfer of custody. Please sign a new petition to urge Philippines Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr to ensure the safe return of Mary Jane and to grant her immediate clemency, based on the humanitarian grounds that Mary Jane is a victim of human trafficking.  

In the past nine years, we have never forgotten Mary Jane. Since 2015, the grassroots campaign calling on the Indonesian Government to save Mary Jane Veloso’s life brought together thousands of people from the Philippines, Indonesia and across many countries in the world. Migrants, women and human rights groups and advocates, faith and religious organizations, legal advocates and communities organized prayer vigils and solidarity actions, sent letters of appeal and lobbied Indonesian Government leaders to grant Mary Jane clemency. We have also appealed to the Philippine Government to ensure that Mary Jane’s testimony would be taken as part of holding her traffickers in the Philippines accountable for their crimes. 

Mary Jane is among many women migrant workers, from impoverished backgrounds, who have been preyed upon by illegal recruiters and human traffickers. The pending return of Mary Jane Veloso to her homeland will shine as beacon of hope for migrant workers around the world, especially for those who feel abandoned and neglected and who face unjust detention, the harsh realities of exploitation, and injustice. 

Human trafficking victims like Mary Jane should be protected while the real perpetrators of human trafficking--those who deceive and prey on the innocent, vulnerable and desperate--should be prosecuted and convicted. 

Please sign with us at www.Change.org/Clemency4MaryJane to amplify our resounding call for President Marcos Jr. to bring Mary Jane Veloso safely home to her family and grant her full clemency forthwith.