Susan Ople is first Filipino appointed as trustee of UN Trust Fund for Human Trafficking victims

Former labor undersecretary and overseas Filipino workers ( OFW) advocate Susan “Toots” Ople has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking, according to Director General and Executive Director Ghada Fatha Waly of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC).

Records obtained from the Department of Foreign Affairs show that Susan, youngest daughter of the late Foreign Affairs Secretary and Senate President Blas F. Ople, will be the first Filipino appointed to the said position.

“We are very pleased to have a person of your caliber and experience partnering with UNODC in its endeavor top help those who suffer from injustice and violations of their rights,” the UN official said in her letter to Ople.

“I am confident that with your invaluable support and guidance, many victims and survivors of human trafficking around the world will be able to receive much needed assistance,” Waly said.

The Trust Fund is an integral element of the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, adopted by the General Assembly in July 2010. Since its establishment, the Trust Fund has provided direct humanitarian, legal and financial assistance to thousands of victims through grassroots non government organization ( NGO) projects.

Ople joins other members of the Board from Belgium, Armenia, Nigeria and Panama.

“I look forward to bringing the Philippine experience in the fight against human trafficking with me as a trustee of the UN Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking. I am also eager to be of service not only to abused Filipino overseas workers but victims of slavery and human trafficking of all nationalities across the globe,” Ople said.

The OFW advocate heads the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute, a nonprofit organization that has been helping distressed OFWS for the last 16 years. The Ople Center represents the NGO Sector for Migrant Workers in the Inter-agency Council Against Trafficking ( IACAT). It was the IACAT, through the Department of Justice and the Department of Foreign Affairs, that nominated Ople to the position.

According to UNODC, the role of the Board of Trustees is to provide strategic guidance on the Fund, to consider proposed projects for financing, and at this point, in particular, to support efforts to mobilize resources.

Ople served as labor undersecretary during then Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas’s term under President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo. In 2013, she was hailed by the US State Department as one of its Trafficking in Persons Heroes in the Annual Trafficking in Persons Report. In 2010, she was the first Filipino to receive the Alumni Achievement Award from the Kennedy School of Government Harvard University for her fight against human trafficking.

Various OFW groups welcomed the appointment of Ople to the UN Trust Fund as this would enable her to bring the concerns of vulnerable and enslaved migrant workers all over the world.

The Center for OFW Reintegration and Empowerment (CORE) headed by Capt. Gaudencio Morales lauded the appointment of Ople to the UN Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking. “She has been leading the fight against human trafficking for years. There is no better choice especially coming from the Philippines.”

Luther Calderon of the Kabalikat ng Migranteng Pilipino (KAMPI) said Ople will be the voice of migrant workers in Southeast Asia that have suffered greatly at the hands of human traffickers and illegal recruiters.

“She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that could only come from decades of hard work and dedication to the cause of migrant workers’ rights ,” Calderon said.