Helping distressed OFWs bounce back TO WHAT extend are you willing to earn a living? Ronald Espiritu, a 33-year-old oversea Filipino worker (OFW) based in Miami, Florida endured hunger, fatigue, and worse, a measly salary—way below the minimum wage—just to make a living, according to a report in Pinoy-OFW.com. Along with a group of fellow Filipino workers, Espiritu may have had never seen daylight outside W South Beach hotel, Lincoln Road’s Quattro Italian restaurant, and Admiral’s Cove country club in Jupiter where he worked 100 hours weekly as a waiter and bellboy. His nights weren’t any better. As if there was enough time for a recommended eight-hour sleep, Espiritu always returned to a small barrack, where he and several other …show more content…
Espiritu is set to go back to the Philippines once the suit is settled. But what exactly is waiting for him back in his home land? Reintigration While most organizations fight human trafficking through more direct ways, such as assistance in filing complaints among others, the National Reintigration Center for OFWs (NRCO) helps victims of human trafficking or any migrant returnees to “bounce back” after life in abroad. According to NCRO Director Rustico Dela Fuente, many returning migrant workers in the Philippines fall into the trap of splurging on their hard-earn money, eventually ending up with nothing again. “This is what we want to prevent—the ‘from rags to riches and to rags again’ cycle,” Oak said in an interview, adding that planning an OFW’s return is imperative. “Mainly, we take care of reintigration needs of migrant workers [here in NRCO],” said Dela Fuente. “We help them find new jobs and renew their lives.” The Department of Labor and Employment-backed organization offers OFW returnees services, ranging from reintigration plan counseling and skills training to financial assistance. Clemente Enrique, a former OFW, remembered that he was at a loss when the the company he was working for in Saudi Arabia suddenly shut down. But with the help of NRCO along with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Enrique was able to bounce back. “I decided to
Human trafficking is a public health problem within the United States and Internationally. The victims subjected to the lifestyle of human trafficking can have sexually transmitted disease, HIV virus, and AIDS. It is an estimated 30,000 victims of human sex trafficking dying each year from abuse, disease, torture, and neglect. According, to U.S. government an estimates, of 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders annually, and up to 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year (Hodge, 2008). “According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), over the past 30 years, over 30 million children have been sexually exploited through human trafficking” (Random Facts, 2015, para. 24).
Most immigrants usually fill essential service jobs in the economy, which are vacant. Unfortunately, like new immigrants throughout U.S. history, “they experience conditions that are
* return and reintegration support for victims of trafficking returning to their countries of origin.
“While a myriad of laws exist at the state and federal level to protect undocumented workers from exploitation, discrimination and abuse, enforcement is often lax and many in the legal community have turned a blind eye, or worse, have watched undisturbed while their clients commit crimes against humanity” (Lazar). The problem does not reside in the lack of laws that protect undocumented workers, but the lack of willingness from the government to enforce these policies in the everyday workplace. “The current movement of non-profit worker centers across the country—empowering immigrant workers to defend their employment rights and recover their dignity in the workplace—is a vital sign of progress. But it must be complemented with a real commitment from the public and private sector to protect the rights of all workers” (Workplace Fairness). Workers from the Tracy, California factory decided to take things in their own hands, they organized multiple protests against Taylor Farms, they set up a Teamsters accounts, and have also created an Appeal for Justice to inform the CEO of Taylor Farms, Bruce Church Taylor, of the unjust conditions that the workers suffer
Human trafficking has received increasing global attention over the past decade. Trafficking of women and girls for forced sex work and, to a lesser extent, domestic servitude, were the sole focus of advocacy and assistance. There is recognition in today’s society that women, children, and men are trafficked into many different forms of labour, and for sexual exploitation. In her article, “Understanding and Addressing Violence Against Women”, Cathy Zimmerman and Heidi Stockl focus on the commonality of human trafficking and how evident it is in everyday life. They bring in the health effects and possible solutions to human trafficking to help validate their opinion and argument. In the solutions they offer, Zimmerman and Stockl shine a light on policy-makers/decision-makers, health-care providers, and researchers/funders and what each of these groups of people can do to help combat the issue of human trafficking. In a quote from their article, Stockl and Zimmerman say: “Health care providers and organizations involved with trafficked persons should increase their capacity to identify and refer people in trafficking situations and provide sensitive and safe services to people post-trafficking”. This quote shows how Zimmerman and Stockl believe human trafficking should be combated by caring and talking to those affected by the issue but how they also believe awareness should be made about human trafficking so as to allow people surrounding the issue to identify and help victims of this issue. Zimmerman and Stockl’s view on the ways human trafficking should be combatted relate to those of Soroptimist due to the fact that the two groups of people are focused mainly on helping women and girls who have been trafficked and trying to get them to a better life after getting out of the trafficking situation. Both groups focus on helping men as well, providing options to help them such as raising money and awareness, and getting educated on being able to identify victims of human trafficking.
Our immigrant employment practice represents a wide variety of individuals and businesses throughout the US.
According to estimates, more than 700,000 people are trafficked every year for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour. They are transported across borders and sold into modern-day slavery. Over the past decade, trafficking in human beings has reached epidemic proportions. No country is immune. Clawson (2009) discusses how the search for
The purpose of the immigrant program is to assist men, women, and families who are having difficulties in regards to cultural
Human trafficking is a serious problem in modern society. In fact, the United Nations has referred to it as “one of the gravest human rights violations of our times” (“Secretary - General Calls Human Trafficking”). It is a fast growing industry that affects millions. No gender, age, or status is spared from the cruelty that is trafficking. To stress this point again, human trafficking is not just a problem of the “world” or “United States”, in general. As previously seen, it strikes very close to home, affecting hundreds of men, women, and children of our own community. In fact, “North Carolina ranked as a top-10 state for human trafficking with Charlotte being the top destination. It is estimated that more than 1,700 girls are trafficked
Furthermore, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 was best known for providing the framework to respond to human trafficking (Feldman, 2011). Likewise, it also helped for the redesigning of the laws in the United States by making sex trafficking an individual crime and allowing the government to focus on the victims. Even though this law has been reauthorized in 3 years the latest time, 2008, is the one that actually strengthens protections for the victims as well as, improves the protections for the victims. While this law already helped to develop people to prohibit the crime, the reauthorization of it, created a new set of criminal tools to reach unscrupulous labor recruiters (Feldman, 2011). Although the revisions of this law
Due to this factor, many immigrant families seek services available in the U.S.The following articles addresses Immigration Policy and Federal Policy. It also addresses social services that are available to immigrant families and how social workers jobs are designed to help this individuals. Within the article, it addresses the different services needed by these individuals, such as mental health, health care, and living assistance.
In order to overcome human trafficking, it is imperative to give adequate support and protection needed to the victims. Support and protection prevent the victims from relapsing and risking their lives by getting involved again. Without the encouragement and care after a traumatic experience, it is probable for the victims to lose hope and fall back into their previous doings that
In the Second Edition of Servants of Globalization: Migration and Domestic Work, Rhacel Parreñas examines all of the challenging aspects of the lives of migrant Filipino domestic workers. Throughout the interviews that are included in this novel, the author was able to analyze different cases filled with personal struggle and familial support using the perspectives of many determined women across the diaspora, mainly focusing on those to travel to work in Western Countries. In this paper, I will briefly summarize the first three chapters, bringing to light the most important aspects the Parreñas included. I will then discuss the methodology used in her convincing global ethnography, before I include both the advantages and disadvantages to
Human trafficking is a worldwide problem and can happen anywhere, to anyone, and at any time. Human trafficking is known as “modern day slavery”. In this world, there are two types of human trafficking: labor trafficking and sex trafficking. Because human traffickers mostly target teenagers and young children, friends and families are terrified to think that their loved ones can be taken at any moment. It is devastating to find out if a loved one has been, or is, a victim of human trafficking. The friends and families of the rescued victim(s) can be greatly impacted. The situation can negatively affect a victim’s relationship with family members and/or friends, due to the trauma the victim had/has obtained, the victim(s) must be rehabilitated to live a normal life, and the experience allows the families gain more knowledge on the signs of human trafficking.
many academics, public officials, law enforcement authorities, and the news media believe human trafficking to be among the most tragic and horrendous transnational criminal activities facing us today. Victims are typically transported from