PHILIPPINES "Stop" Nationwide Campaign
"STOP", an acronym for STOP TRAFFICKING OF PILIPINAS, was launched during the celebration of the International Day Against the Exploitation of Women on 25 November 1983, the anniversary of the death of three women from the Dominican Republic who were raped and tortured by the military.
STOP is directed primarily against the pimps, protectors, agents, recruiters, managers, brothel owners, all actors behind the trafficking in girls (and boys too) and women both locally and internationally.
The campaign also works against other forms of sexual abuse such as assault as part of torture by the military or lascivious harassment of women workers in' factories and offices.
At a public forum held at the Philippine Women's University, a general overview of the "traffic jam" of sexually exploited women' was presented by Sr. Mary Soledad Perpinan of TW-MAE-W. This was followed by a personal testimony of one of the victims, a young woman who found herself caught in a marriage trade in Germany. The Forum outlined concrete steps to be taken in the campaign and affirmed the need for international networking.
For more information contact:
TW-MAE-W (Third World Movement Against the Exploitation of Women)
P.O. Box SM-366
Manila, Philippines
THAI WOMEN ORGANIZE
Preparations for the formation of the "Thailand Night Girls Rights Protection Group" started some eight months before its official announcement to the press on March 8. The secretary general of the Group is 27-year-old Kamolthip Sunthornchuen, a hostess at a Klong San night club and formerly a rural teacher before entering the "service" business. She got assistance from several social workers and intellectuals as well as dozens of "service" women.
The objective of the Group is to protect their rights, to voice their problems, to educate them on their rights in society and to provide them .with occupational training so that they can earn their living from certain skills after they leave the "service" business.
While receiving assistance and encouragement from university students, as well as national and international human rights groups, they also have gotten into trouble with the managers of the night clubs where they are working. Their families also put pressure on them for fear of ruining the family's name.
This information is from:
Asia Link Center for the Progress of Peoples
48 Princess Margaret Road 1 /F
Kowloon, Hong Kong