The U.S. Government, through the ASEAN-U.S. PROGRESS partnership, continues to support ASEAN efforts to implement the ASEAN Convention on Trafficking in Persons, known as ACTIP, and its ASEAN Plan of Action.
In collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN’s Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children, or ACWC, PROGRESS is supporting the development and drafting of Regional Guidelines and Procedures to Address the Needs of TIP Victims.
Ahead of the 16th ACWC Meeting in Jakarta, PROGRESS in collaboration with the WSD Handa Centre of Stanford University — arranged for all ACWC Representatives to come together for the third and final review of the Guidelines ahead of their official endorsement during their upcoming meeting.
The final draft has also been shared for comments and feedback with other relevant ASEAN bodies - the nine sectoral body contributors to the Bohol Work Plan - and their feedback and inputs will also be incorporated into the final draft for endorsement.
Once endorsed by the ACWC, the Guidelines will provide ASEAN Member States with a common approach through which to implement commitments under the ACTIP, presenting a set of agreed upon regional multi-sectoral guidelines and procedures that reflect national, regional, and international commitments across six many areas: victim definition and identification; victim protection and support; special measures for victim-witnesses; special and additional measures for child victims; access to remedies, and return, recovery and reintegration.
The U.S. is proud to work with ASEAN and its international partners to help protect the peoples of the Asia-Pacific region from a terrible and age-old scourge of humanity – human trafficking.
