AUSTRALIA BOOSTS PHILIPPINES' CAPACITY TO ADDRESS TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS CASES
Australian Embassy Deputy Head of Mission Andrew Byrne (2nd from right) hands over new equipment and hardware to Police Director Felizardo Serapio, Jr (RET), Executive Director of the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (2nd from left) during the culmination of the Trafficking in Persons Summit for Law Enforcement, Judges and Prosecutors held in Mandaluyong City recently. They are joined by Department of Justice Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar (far left) and LTGEN Alberto Braganza, OIC Associate Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration (far right).
Funded by the Australian Agency for International Development, the equipment includes 19 computers, nine voice recorders, seven video and eight digital cameras, seven printers and eight multimedia projector and screens. This equipment will enhance the capacity of Philippine government agencies to effectively disrupt and prosecute trafficking in persons cases.
The support is part of the Australian Government’s Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons Project (ARTIP), a five-year A$21 million (Php 980 million) initiative which will facilitate a more effective and coordinated criminal justice response to trafficking in persons by South East Asia governments. ARTIP partner countries include Cambodia, Lao PDR, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and now the Philippines.