Visayan Forum

VISAYAN FORUM FOUNDATION, INC is a non-profit, non-stock and tax-exempt non-government organization in the Philippines established in 1991. VF works for the welfare of marginalized migrants, especially those working in the invisible and informal sectors. It works in issues of domestic work, child labor and human trafficking especially of women and children. [ [http://www.visayanforum.org/aboutus.php Visayan Forum Foundation Inc ] ]

About Visayan Forum

It is licensed and accredited by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to provide "residential care and community-based programs and services for women and children in especially difficult circumstances." It is most known for its pioneering and documented work on domestic workers in the Philippines, especially in pushing for the Domestic Workers Bill or the Batas Kasambahay. It is also in the forefront of providing services to trafficking victims by managing Halfway Houses constructed by the Philippine Ports Authority and the Manila International Airport Authority in major Philippine ports.

VF’s work for child domestic workers has been cited by ILO-IPEC and the United Nations Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI) as one of the international best practices. Its anti-trafficking partnership with the Philippine government and private shipping companies was also hailed as one of the international best practices by the U.S. State Department in its 2005 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. The Anti-Slavery International, the world’s oldest human rights organization, also conferred the 2005 Anti-Slavery award on VF’s President.

National and International Efforts in Mobilizing Social Partners

* Philippine and Southeast Asian Secretariat, Global March against Child Labor
* Convenor, Task Force on Child Domestic Workers in Asia
* Convenor, Multi-Sectoral Network against Trafficking in Persons (MSNAT)
* Convenor, Anti-Trafficking Task Forces at the Ports
* Vice-Chair, Philippine NGO Coalition on the UNCRC
* Member, ILO Convention 182 National Monitoring Team
* Member, National Steering Committee of UNICEF’s Sixth Country Program for Children

Vision

A society where marginalized migrants, especially Filipino women and children, are free and empowered

Mission

To contribute to the protection, freedom and empowerment of marginalized migrants, especially Filipino women and children, by:

1. Mobilizing local, national and international efforts that promote safe migration and work for the development of marginalized migrants, especially the invisible domestic workers and trafficked women and children.

2. Providing integrative services and interventions

3. Campaigning, capacity-building and organizing advocates and volunteers as agents of change towards policies and programs that sustain long-term development involving women and children, communities, and other social partners.

4. Leading and sustaining preventive and proactive community-based programs

Goals

Institutionalized local, national and international policies that shall protect and provide programs and services for women and children especially the mainstreaming of domestic workers and trafficked persons. Sustained networks, partners, support or survivor groups and other stakeholders to provide protection, justice and developmental opportunities for long-term implementation of programs and services to victims of trafficking, abusive domestic work, as well as other vulnerable groups. Interventions for victims of trafficking and abusive domestic work are set up and strengthened in strategic areas, ports and hotspots. Communities are economically viable and secured.

Projects

*A halfway house, dubbed "Balay Silungan sa Daungan" (Home Shelter at the Port) provides 24-hour "safety and catchment" services for victims of trafficking intercepted by child rights advocates and government personnel.The center, jointly established by the Visayan Forum Foundation (VF) and the PPA, also provides victims of child trafficking a temporary shelter, referrals in pursuing legal actions against their recruiters and telephone hotline counseling. VF-Mindanao regional coordinator, Luzviminda Panes, said the center also provides mechanisms to protect children who travel alone or are stranded at the seaport. [ [http://cpcabrisbane.org/Kasama/2002/V16n2/VisayanFF.htm Center for Victims of Child Trafficking Inaugurated ] ]

Human Trafficking

Visayan Forum Foundation has been actively involved in helping women and children trafficked into prostitution by providing support, education, housing, and legal advice.Visayan Forum Foundation has established that most of the children and young women trafficked to Manila from rural areas in search of work are assured jobs as domestic workers, but in a significant number of cases end up in the sex trade. [http://www.antislavery.org/archive/submission/submission2002-childlabour.htm]

Regional Centers

Metro Manila,

Batangas,

Bacolod,

Davao

Sorsogon.

Other Project Areas

NCR, Batangas, Sorsogon, Cebu, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Davao, Southern Leyte, Samar, Surigao and Zamboanga

References

External links

* [http://www.visayanforum.org Visayan Forum Webpage]

* [http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/antislavery/award.htm#link3 Anti-Slavery Award]