Megu ihe Background ilippines is a major source country for migrant workers. In its most recent Survey on Overseas Filipinos, Phiiprine Statistics Authority (PSA) estimated that there are 2.3 million Filipinos who worked abroad anytime during the period of April to September 2018. According to the UN Migration Report 2017, the Philippines is the ninth largest country of origin for international migrants (with an estimated 5.7 million Recognizing the magnitude and significance of OFW contributions, the Philippines has migrants worldwide). put in place a robust labor migration management system. It is a State Party to the United Nations International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, relevant UN human rights treaties, and core Labor Conventions of the International Labor Organization. The Philippines enacted laws that regulate the deployment of Filipinos overseas (Migrant Workers Act or Republic Act 8042 as amended by RA 10022) and criminalize trafficking in persons (Republic Act 9208 as amended by RA 10364). It has established trust funds and welfare programs under the auspices of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration country also has (OVWWA) a dedicated and the agency, Department of Social Philippine Overseas the Welfare and Employment Development Administration (DSWD). The (POEA) that regulates the activities of private recruitment agencies and even foreign agents and employers. The protection and promotion of welfare of OFWs is a pillar of the country's foreign policy and a major function of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). However, OFWs continue to suffer from human rights violations throughout the whole migration cycle — from preparation, to recruitment, transit, employment, and even up to their return and reintegration. They fall into debt bondage and forced labor, and suffer maltreatment and physical abuse while employed. They are vulnerable to gender-based violence. They also lack access to meaningful programs that would help them reintegrate into society and the economy once they return. Val Th . Objectives The Protocol seeks to: 1. Guide CHR 2. a Th officers and personnel in receiving and handling reports of violation of rights of OFWs and members of their families through the Observatory or through its regular reporting mechanisms; andMap out referral pathways for various human rights violations reported by OFWs and members of their families. CHR Mandate, Powers and Functions oié According to its Guidelines and Procedures in the Investigation and Monitoring of Human Rights Violations and Abuses, and the Provision of CHR Assistance, the CHR shall take cognizance of and investigate, on its own or on complaint by any party, all forms of human rights violations and abuses involving civil and political rights, including but not limited to the following: a) Right to life; b) c) d) Right to liberty; Right to security; Right to respect for one's dignity; e) Freedom from slavery and involuntary servitude; f) g) Freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment; Right to protection from enforced disappearance: h) Freedom from arbitrary interference with one's privacy, family, home, or correspondence; i) Freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile; j) k) Freedom from movement and residence; Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; 1) m) Freedom of the press, speech, opinion, and expression; Freedom from discrimination; n) Right to marry and found a family; and 0) Right to own property. ? Philippine Statistics Authority, "Total Number of OFWs Estimated at 2,3 Million (Results from the 2018 Survey on Overseas Filipinos) in the2018 Survey on Overseas Filipinos (SOF)." April 30, 2019, available at https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/survey/labor-andemployment/survey-overseas-filipinos (last accessed 16 July 2019). a UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “International Migration Review," 18 December 2017, available at https://www.un.org/development/desa/publications/international-migration-report-2017.html (last accessed 16 July 2019). ay Soe ee ier ae sir BE EEE SS TERETE RSE