A Filipino diplomat has expressed concern over a marked increase of trafficking in Filipino women to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and other Middle East counries. Benito Valeriano, the consul-general in Dubai, said that based on collected reports from Philippine diplomatic missions in the region, 99 percent of these trafficking cases, particularly in Dubai, were bound for the flesh trade. Valeriano said he has relayed this to the Department o Foreign Affairs (DFA) Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs in Manila. “Even the diplomatic missions in Beirut, Amman, Damascus and Tel Aviv have the same problem of Filipino women being trafficked everyday,” Valeriano said in an interview posted Sunday on UAE-based news site Khaleej Times. He said the actual cases will be conveyed to the UAE authorities after Manila completes its investigation and the human traffickers are identified. Philippine Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera had coordinated with Valeriano to assist women prosecutors in their task to know first-hand from the victims. The information to be asked of the victims include how they were brought to the UAE and other countries to get relevant information needed in filing cases against erring agencies and human traffickers.
