By: Jomar T. Sadie, PGDip-TS
LEAPS Academy Philippines
Area: Human Trafficking
Basra, Iraq - It was barely over a year ago,
when we were pulling all stops sorting things out with prison officials in
order to extract one kababayan Jocelyn Capate and bring her back home. She
burst into tears the moment she saw us that morning of 03 April 2019. And more
so when we told her she's flying home the same day, mere hours after her
release from jail.
Joyce's ordeal started in July of
2018 when she was promised a job in Dubai. Instead of arriving in the UAE
however, she ended up in Iraq using a Kurdistan visa. Such a visa is easy to
acquire online. For three days, Joyce was transported by car from Erbil to
Basra, a journey that should have been only 8 hours long at most. This is
because the visa she holds is not valid for travel to the rest of Iraq.
During that trip, she was
transferred from one car to another at least five times in order to avoid
inspection at various checkpoints that pepper their route. She is among the
luckier ones. At least twenty (21) other Filipinos experienced traveling the
same route from July to December of 2018. Some were detained, two were
allegedly kidnapped, and several were molested during the 3-day journey.
Last October, Joyce managed to
escape. She ran away to escape the maltreatment she was enduring from her
employers in Basra. But it was a dangerous trip. She traveled via taxi to
Baghdad amidst the protest and violence that erupted in that city during that
month. She stayed in the Embassy for a few months along with other Filipinos
who were victims of human trafficking.
By December, we were sending home
22 victims of human trafficking. This was no easy feat, but no one heard about
this. We couldn't celebrate. Joyce was left behind even with her duly processed
exit visa dated 10 December 2018. Her employer had filed a case against her, as
if fate deemed it, a day before her flight. She was detained at the airport.
She was so close to getting home. And she was devastated. We couldn't fully
rejoice for the 21, because even if the men and I are rough around the edges, "No
one gets left behind" is not just lip service but a mantra we take to
heart at the Embassy.
Because of the case filed by her
former employer, Joyce was locked up for five months. Frustrated with the
situation, but still keeping true to the spirit of diplomacy, the Philippine
Embassy in Iraq transmitted a strongly worded note verbale to the Iraqi
Ministry of Foreign Affairs stating, among others, that the Baghdad Philippine
Embassy aspires to regularize Filipino workers in Iraq as well as combat human
trafficking, but Capate’s prolonged detention made it difficult to advance
these advocacies.
The central government took
notice and responded; thus, Joyce was released. I remember looking at Joyce
enjoying a cigarette in the other vehicle within our heavily guarded convoy
that's running fast to the airport. I see her finally free. And she is
celebrating with that cigarette, windows open. I roll down my window and light
a stick to join the celebration. And damn, what a celebration! I wrote personal
thank you letters to those who helped us, without friends, it is impossible to
bear Iraq.
I remember writing this then and
I say it now “To those, who are eyeing jobs in Dubai or Erbil with shady
details, may this story serve as a warning to always be careful. If the offer
is too good to be true, it is not true. And to those recruiters who are feeding
off the blood and sweat of your very own Kababayans, we sincerely wish that you
live long, may you never be hungry, may you never be cold in bed or without a
bed, and may you never be left alone, for the world is round, and life is long
and you'll never know that twist of fate when it's your turn to be behind bars
wanting and waiting for kind words. We are happy to be the first one to wish
you well. See you there.”
*****
Find related articles at:
www.pccmleaps.org
www.criminologysolutions.com
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