A Response to the Issue of Human Trafficking, 12-17 February, Kuala Lumpur

In response to the urgent issue of human trafficking and the need to build an effective South East Asia Good Shepherd network, the Province of Singapore-Malaysia initiated its first Capacity Building and Training Workshop (CBTW). It was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 12-17 February 2011.

The rationale for the CBTW was to:

· To build an effective Good Shepherd South East Asia network to respond to the issue of human trafficking, consistent with our Chapter directions.

· To develop and strengthen the intra and inter provinces networks among Good Shepherd countries working in the areas of migration and human trafficking.

· To build common understanding among Good Shepherd, of the importance of effective professional response.

· To strengthen Good Shepherd’s ability to work with other NGOs and government structures.

After much preparation and in collaboration with the GSIJP Office to draw up the programme, Sr Clare Nolan, the Resource and Training Facilitator together with 50 Good Shepherd people and sisters from Provinces of East Asia, Sri Lanka/Pakistan, India/Nepal, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia/NZ, Singapore- Malaysia arrived in Kuala Lumpur to participate in the 1st CBTW.

Concrete initiatives which were planned at the gathering have begun taking shape such as the development of an Asia Pacific Internship Programme for training in the work of Migration/Trafficking, compiling a regional Resource Bank that would include human resources, data, joint proposals, etc. The group had committed to continue cross border mission sharing and give attention to setting up structures helpful for liaison and co-ordination of communication on the issue of Human Trafficking and Migration.