$80,000 Fund Launched to Raise Awareness for Trafficking-In-Persons

Inter-Agency Taskforce hopes to encourage more public education initiatives

11 January 2013

1. The Singapore Inter-Agency Taskforce on Trafficking-in-Persons (TIP) announced the launch of a TIP Public Awareness Grant today, at an engagement session with its key stakeholders. The Taskforce hopes that the grant, of up to $80,000 this year, will encourage more public education initiatives that would help raise public awareness of TIP crimes, so that more of such incidents will be detected early and reported to the authorities.
2. About 40 participants from local NGOs, businesses, academia, and students from tertiary institutions attended the half-day engagement session. The Taskforce updated the participants on progress made thus far and also sought inputs from participants on two areas of interest – how public awareness can be raised, and ways to enhance the case referral process.
   
   Educating the public: Launch of TIP Public Awareness Grant
3. MOM's Divisional Director of Workplace Policy and Strategy Division, Alvin Lim, announced the grant in his closing remarks at the engagement session. Mr Lim said, "We recognise the importance of public education by individuals or organisations in the prevention of TIP. This grant would push our existing collaboration efforts to the next level as we step up our fight against TIP crime, and the taskforce aims to encourage more of such efforts on the ground between various stakeholders."
4. Individuals/organisations keen to apply for the grant can do so from 1 February to 31 March 2013¹.
   
   Updating and seeking feedback
5. During the engagement session, the Taskforce updated stakeholders on its work progress since the launch of the National Plan of Action (NPA) in March 2012², and also the initiatives planned for 2013. The session also provided an opportunity for stakeholders to clarify and provide feedback on the work done so far.
6. The stakeholders also participated in small group discussions on how public awareness on TIP can be raised, so that the general public could play a more active role in fighting TIP. They discussed ways of enhancing the case referral processes between NGOs, members of public and government agencies so that every potential TIP case can be thoroughly investigated by the authorities. There was an enthusiastic and passionate exchange of ideas among the participants on the two topics. While most expressed their support for the Taskforce’s commitment towards fighting TIP, they also agreed that more can be done to raise public awareness of TIP across various groups, and there was a need to improve the case referral system. The Taskforce acknowledges the feedback and suggestions received and will consider them when planning and implementing future initiatives.
   
   Conclusion
7. The launch of the TIP Public Awareness Grant signifies the Taskforce’s ongoing commitment to collaborating with all stakeholders to combat human trafficking. The Taskforce will continue to hold regular engagement sessions with our stakeholders, and looks forward to discussing other TIP-related topics in future.

About the Singapore Inter-Agency Taskforce on Trafficking-in-Persons

The Singapore Inter-Agency Taskforce on Trafficking in Persons was established in 2010 in recognition of the threat of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) in Singapore. Co-chaired by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the Taskforce includes representatives from the Singapore Police Force (SPF), Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports (MCYS), Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Law (MinLaw), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC). The aim of the Taskforce is to implement holistic, co-ordinated strategies to combat TIP more effectively.

¹ For full information on the grant, refer to MOM's website.
² Refer to Annex for list of updates