ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The Philippine Embassy in Baghdad hails the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for stepping up its efforts to combat human trafficking and the creation of an ‘an interagency body’ to handle cases of trafficking victims. The move by the KRG, said the embassy, would help protect Filipino and other foreign workers in Kurdistan. “We would like to thank the Kurdistan Regional Government led by Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani for this initiative,” Chargé d’Affaires at the Philippine embassy Elmer G. Cato said. “This demonstrates the determination and commitment of Kurdish authorities to help fight human trafficking in Iraq.” The Kurdish interior ministry under Karim Sinjari issued an order in May to create the High Committee to Combat Human Trafficking headed by Director General Sami Jalal Hussein. According to the Philippine embassy in Baghdad, 1,500 of 2,000 Filipinos working in Iraq are in the Kurdistan Region. The new committee created by the KRG is “tasked to investigate human trafficking cases and formulate policy guidelines to protect the rights and welfare of migrant workers in the Kurdistan region,” Officials from the ministries of the interior, labor and social affairs and foreign relations are members of the committee. “The Kurdistan Regional Government has gone a long way since we first began actively engaging them on the issue of trafficking in persons nine months ago,” Chargé d’Affaires Cato said, citing the successful rescue and repatriation in October of 12 Filipino trafficking victims. The embassy said in a statement that International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Seed Foundation have contributed ‘important assistance’ to Filipino victims of human trafficking in the region.
