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Should Human Trafficking Should be Taught in School in the Philippines?

If this NBI chief agent had his way, the problem of human trafficking and how not to be caught in the traffickers’ snares would be discussed among schoolchildren.

"Law enforcers should go to primary and secondary schools to educate kids, especially young girls, on human trafficking," said Ferdinand Lavin, chief of the National Bureau of Investigation’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division in the Philippines.

“The campaign should be focused on grades five to high school because these minors are often the target of syndicates," he added in a recent informal chat with reporters. He said the campaign should be mounted with the help of Department of Education officials.

"We should strengthen the preventive aspect, perhaps by information dissemination," he said. "IACAT (Inter-agency Council Against Trafficking) should also map out where the victims came from and focus on info dissemination in that particular area."

Lavin said he has long pushed for an information dissemination campaign, even taking up his idea with IACAT officials.

"We already made this appeal to the IACAT but we were told that there was no funding. That’s the problem," he said.

Adapted from: Tina Santos, "Human trafficking should be taught in school." Inquirer.net. 24 November 2007.