Human Trafficking in [Philippines] [other countries]Street Children in [Philippines] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Philippines |
Child Prostitution The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children In the
early years of the 21st Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/childprostitution/Philippines.htm
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CAUTION: The following links and accompanying text have been culled
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FEATURED ARTICLE *** Helping girls flee brothels Craig and Marc Kielburger, www.thestar.com/News/article/221184 [accessed 6 July 2011] The tape showed hundreds of
children as young as 5 locked in cages stacked a half-dozen high. Most were
child prostitutes, caught in that country's rampant sex tourism trade. Broadcast on CNN, it highlighted an issue
the world couldn't ignore, and hit hardest in North America, where many of
the children's regular customers live. More than 60,000 Filipino girls
work as child prostitutes. They are recruited by pimps in rural areas of the
country from unsuspecting, desperately poor families who send their daughters
to the city to earn extra money.
"It's everyone from the sleazy to the elite," Father Shay
says of the tourists who frequent child brothels. "All levels of society
and every nationality." Girls are
sold in the brothels and on the streets for as little as $25 and can see as
many as 10 customers a day. If they don't make enough money, they are beaten. ***
ARCHIVES *** ECPAT Global Monitoring Report on the status of action
against commercial exploitation of children - PHILIPPINES [PDF] ECPAT International, 2006 www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/EAP/Global_Monitoring_Report-PHILIPPINES.pdf [accessed 6 July 2011] The While tourism has been used to
promote economic growth, it has also resulted in child sex tourism in the
Philippines. In research conducted in Cebu in 2004,
all the taxi drivers surveyed responded that they had had an encounter with a
foreign tourist accompanied by a Filipino minor. Interviews conducted in a
drop-in centre for victims of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) showed
that 70 per cent of the girls assisted were aged between 11 and 17 years. Cebu is a prime tourist destination in the Philippines,
and is advertised on websites providing information on where sex services are
available. Two years ago, an American national was arrested as he tried to
leave the US for the Philippines for making arrangements to have sex with two
Filipino girls aged 9 and 12. There are indications that this kind of
pre-arranged child sex tourism takes place in the country, and is highly
facilitated by the Internet. Nationals from Austria, Australia, Belgium,
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands and the
United States have been arrested in the Philippines for sexual offences
against children. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/philippines.htm [accessed 16 December 2010] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children living on the streets engage in informal labor activities
such as scavenging or begging. Children are also engaged in domestic
service and are involved in the commercial sex industry, including the use of
children in the production of pornography and the exploitation of children by
sex tourists. Children are reportedly
trafficked internally for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and
labor. Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61624.htm [accessed 16 December 2010] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – The Virlanie Foundation, a local child protection NGO,
estimated that there were at least 20 thousand child prostitutes in the
country, most in the Metro Manila area. Other NGOs estimated that as many as
100 thousand children were involved in the commercial sex industry. Most of
these children were girls, and nearly all had dropped out of school. These
children come from very poor families with unemployed or irregularly employed
parents. The Virlanie
Foundation offered housing, training, and counseling services to child
prostitutes. An ILO program resulted in more than six thousand children being
removed or prevented from engaging in the worst forms of child labor,
including the commercial sex industry Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 3 June 2005 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/philippines2005.html [accessed 16 December 2010] [84] The Committee expresses its
grave concern about the sexual exploitation of children, including growing
child prostitution, and the reported cases of child pornography in the State
party. The Committee notes with concern that the provisions of the Special
Protection of Children against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination
Act (Republic Act No. 7610) are mainly related to child prostitution and do
not adequately protect victims of other forms of sexual exploitation.
Furthermore, the Committee notes with concern that the minimum age of sexual
consent is not clearly enough established in the State party’s domestic
legislation and that the Revised Penal Code (Republic Act No. 3815) imposes
maximum penalties for sexual offences when the victim is under 12 years of
age but imposes lower penalties for sexual offenses against minors over 12
years of age. [85] The Committee welcomes the
adoption of, in 2003, the new Anti-Trafficking Law (Republic Act 9208) and
other measures taken by the State party in the areas of prevention of
trafficking and protection of victims, such as the establishment of
Anti-Illegal Recruitment Coordination Councils, the Trade Union Child Labor
Advocate (TUCLAS) initiative and the establishment of an Executive Council to
suppress trafficking in person particularly women and children. But the
Committee is gravely concerned about trafficked Filipino children both within
the country and across borders. The Committee expresses its concern about
existing risk factors contributing to trafficking activities, such as
persisting poverty, temporary overseas migration, growing sex tourism and
weak law enforcement in the State party. The world of RP’s 4 million child workers Child Labor in the News, May 3, 2009 unionssaynotochildlabor.com/inthenews/the-world-of-rp%E2%80%99s-4-million-child-workers/ [accessed 6 July 2011] “PROSTITUTION” to pay for school fees is just one of the many guises of
children in the Philippine flesh trade.
Child prostitution takes many appearances, from stripping and indecent
dance; massage; guest relations; mobile sex trade in streets and malls; on
board docked ships or boats; and outright sex slavery in sex dens. Nobody really knows how many Filipino
children are in the sex trade, but they could number up to 100,000, according
to the International Labor Organization (ILO). Most are girls, but the number of boy
prostitutes is increasing. IACAT and IJM elated over latest conviction of human
trafficker piadispatch.blogspot.com/2008/11/pia-dispatch-thursday-november-27-2008_357.html [accessed 17 September 2011] [scroll down] The four (4) accused were
convicted for victimizing minor girls, with ages ranging from 14-16 years
old. The victims had been sexually exploited and were made to work as
prostitutes by the accused. One of the four complainants was promised the job
of a cashier, while the other three were told they will work as group
dancers. Instead, they all ended up as GROs in a videoke club and were forced to engage in acts of
prostitution. They also were not brought to Laguna as agreed, but instead to Daraga, Albay. The victims were
never allowed to leave the videoke club, until they
were rescued by the NBI Anti-Human Trafficking Division. – htcp A Brave and Loving Woman Fr. Shay Cullen, 13 March 2008 www.pinoypress.net/2008/03/13/fr-shay-cullen-%C2%BB-a-brave-and-loving-woman/ [accessed 6 July 2011] Josie Magano
is one of the bravest Filipino women I ever met. One day she came asking help
to rescue her teenage daughter from the clutches of a Danish sex tour
operator who owned a hotel in Baloy Beach in Olongapo City. Halfway houses at ports protect sex trade victims Gerald Gene R. Querubin,
Philippine Daily Inquirer, [accessed 17 December 2010] A female recruiter, who promised
Ana a job as a storekeeper in Wisdom Dzidedi Donkor, Public Agenda, allafrica.com/stories/200711051563.html [partially accessed 6 July 2011 - access restricted] RESEARCH FINDINGS - In the Cops told to probe alleged child prostitution in Digos city services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20071010-93624 [accessed 6 July 2011] Last week, a nine-year old student
at a public school here went missing for three days. When the girl resurfaced, she said she was
recruited into prostitution by a gang operating at the Rizal
Park, a stone's throw from the city hall and the police station. Helping girls flee brothels Craig and Marc Kielburger, www.thestar.com/News/article/221184 [accessed 6 July 2011] The tape showed hundreds of
children as young as 5 locked in cages stacked a half-dozen high. Most were
child prostitutes, caught in that country's rampant sex tourism trade. Broadcast on CNN, it highlighted an issue
the world couldn't ignore, and hit hardest in North America, where many of
the children's regular customers live. More than 60,000 Filipino girls
work as child prostitutes. They are recruited by pimps in rural areas of the
country from unsuspecting, desperately poor families who send their daughters
to the city to earn extra money.
"It's everyone from the sleazy to the elite," Father Shay
says of the tourists who frequent child brothels. "All levels of society
and every nationality." Girls are
sold in the brothels and on the streets for as little as $25 and can see as
many as 10 customers a day. If they don't make enough money, they are beaten. Fighting The Child Sex Trade - One priest's battle to
protect exploited kids Michael Satchell, USNEWS, Olongapo At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July 2011] Pia Agustin Corvera
became a prostitute at the age of 9. An aunt who raised her in a Manila slum
rented her to foreign men with Pia receiving 120
pesos–$3–for each encounter. After three years, according to a social
worker's report, she was sold to a visiting German pedophile. Today, the
morose 16-year-old with a ravaged psyche and an uneasy smile has found refuge
here in a therapeutic community for child victims of sexual abuse run by a
57-year-old Irish priest, the Rev. Shay Cullen. The tiny Filipino girl is
slowly learning to trust again, and while understandably shy, she describes
with brutal simplicity the sum of her experiences. Says Pia:
"I felt like garbage." Filipino girl Child Exploitation At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July 2011] A Filipino girl, at the tender age
of three, was forced to perform oral sex on strangers. What's worse is that
her pimp is her own mother, a drug addict.
The girl's plight is shocking but not unique, said Dr Jean D'Cunha from the United Nations Development Fund for
Women (Unifem).
Children of increasingly young ages are being forced into prostitution
to fuel the billion-dollar tourism trade in child sex, said international
experts on prostitution and human trafficking at a conference here. Add the growing number of similarly victimised young women, and the experts believe that
'millions are being trafficked worldwide for the sex trade. The path to recovery of Isabel and
Irene Father Shay Cullen, Preda Foundation www.preda.org/main/archives/2006/r06092701.html [accessed 7 July 2011] The flight schedule
was pinned up on the wall. The pimps arrived and began to argue with the police
claiming that they had an understanding with the police chief. But the police
we had with us were from a different station. While they were busy discussing
the payoff, the Preda team went into the house with
the mother and found Isabel. They got her out into the van and sped away
before anyone could stop them. It was clear that there would be no
investigation and no arrests. If only we could have rescued all the girls it
would have been a great day’s work but unfortunately it was impossible. The
girls were teenagers and one of then had a baby. Two men convicted of sex tourism ordered to pay victims in
RP www.sunstar.com.ph/static/net/2005/09/14/two.men.convicted.of.sex.tourism.ordered.to.pay.victims.in.rp.%281.p.m.%29.html [Last access date unavailable] A man convicted of traveling to
the Sex tourism is big money for pimps and politicians Father Shay Cullen, Preda
Foundation web.archive.org/web/20070927192510/http:/www.preda.org/archives/2005/r05030201.html [accessed 7 July 2011] To be left homeless and abandoned
at 13 years old with a younger brother to provide for was too much for
Angelina. Hungry and hopeless, begging food in a public park and nowhere to
go, she found hope and happiness in the offer of two women job recruiters. Wising Up On Sexual Trafficking Of Women And Children [DOC] Delia Jurado, The Freeman,
February 16, 2005 www.twnside.org.sg/title2/ttcd/SO-10.doc [accessed 18 December 2010] [scroll down] Cebu is considered as one of the top
five areas for child prostitution and sex tourism. The prevalence of human trafficking Wenna A. Berondo,
The Freeman, Jul 03, 2005 www.stopdemand.org/afawcs0112878/ID=122/newsdetails.html [accessed 18 December 2010] According to him, Cebu is among the top five areas in the country where
child prostitution and sex tourism are prevalent because it is the
destination of international and domestic trafficking of kids ages 11 to 17
from nearby provinces of Samar, Leyte,
Bohol, and The End Child Prostitution, Child
Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes said that the
number of commercially and sexually exploited children in the country is
increasing. The Philippine Plan of Action estimated that there are between
60,000 to 75,000 children in the Child prostitution in Cebu
alarming – ILO The Philippine Star, www.libertadlatina.org/Asia_Philippines_Cebu_Child_Prostitution_Rates_Alarming_06-13-2005.htm [accessed 7 July 2011] Most of these children aged 11 to
17 are classified as “freelancers,” or doing their trade while they roam the
city streets. The study may not be extensive as it should have been, but the
ILO-IPECL said this should be enough to be alarmed and to do something about
child prostitution. Five Years After ECPAT: Fifth Report on
implementation of the Agenda for Action ECPAT International, November 2001 www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/five_years_after_stockholm.pdf [accessed 13 September 2011] [B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – PHILIPPINES– The Philippines officially adopted its National Plan of Action
titled the Framework for Action against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children 2000-2005 in November 2000. The Philippine Government also produced
a long-term “Philippine Plan of Action for Children (PPAC): the Filipino
Children 2000 and Beyond” where commercial sexual exploitation is recognized
as an area where priority attention and action are required. Report by Special Rapporteur [DOC] UN Economic and Social Council Commission on Human Rights,
Fifty-ninth session, 6 January 2003 www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/0/217511d4440fc9d6c1256cda003c3a00/$FILE/G0310090.doc [accessed 7 July 2011] [61] Awareness about sexual
exploitation of children is high and the Government has introduced a series
of policy and legislative measures since the early 1990s to address the
issues. The legislative framework to protect children is
comprehensive and certain acts have been revised with the protection of
children in mind. In particular, the Anti-Trafficking in Children
Act is currently in its fifth draft and includes provisions such as the
protection of the trafficked child from criminal liability, appropriate
training for persons who work with child victims/survivors and the
penalization of those facilitating the trafficking. However, certain realities remain to be
addressed, including that children can still find themselves imprisoned
following their “rescue” from brothels and other exploitative environments,
and prosecutions against often-wealthy exploiters continue to fail through
inadequate legal procedures. Stop Child Pornography Today! United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July 2011] CHILD
PROSTITUTION IS A KIN OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY - The A Living Hell - A Cultural Perspective On Child
Prostitution In The Jim Blaylock, AgeOfConsent.com, 27 Feb, 2001 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July 2011] In the Family And Friends Push Children Into Prostitution AsiaNews/Agencies, www.asianews.it/news-en/Family-and-friends-push-children-into-prostitution-1884.html [accessed 7 July 2011] Recruiters often justify getting
children into the sex trade by saying that they are “helping” them and their families. Recruiters can be immediate family members
or people known to family and friends.
The fight against child prostitution is hampered by the victims'
reluctance to testify and the inexperience of prosecutors. Philippines-Children: Scourge Of
Child Prostitution Sol F. Juvida, Inter Press
Service News Agency IPS, MANILA, Oct 12, 1997 www.ips.fi/koulut/199742/6.htm [accessed 7 July 2011] Sharon,
a 13 years-old schoolgirl was forever cutting classes at her village school and,
fearful of her parents wrath, took a bus from her village and headed for the
big city - Manila. She wound up in Free Trade and Child Prostitution in the Father Shay Cullen, Preda
Foundation At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July 2011] Jemma was only a child. 14 years old .
when I first saw her she was dressed in a bikini , had a name tag attached
and was gyrating on the stage in a sleazy bar, in Angeles City, a hundred
kilometers north of Manila ,Philippines. The Modern Scourge of Sex Slavery Dr. Martin Brass, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,SOF_0904_Slavery1,00.html [accessed 7 July 2011] [3rd photo caption] Filipino children, victims of child prostitution, wait to
testify before Philippine Congressional committee on child prostitution and
human rights, as 200 street children rallied, in a downpour outside, in
support. About Virlanie – History Virlanie Foundation, Inc. At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July 2011] 1998 - Establishment of Ma Maison for children aged 14 years and above who have
suffered abuse, child prostitutes or victims of physical maltreatment. Street Children in the Tomoko Kojima, 1999-2000 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July 2011] Besides street children, there is
child prostitution in Child labor rampant in Wenna A. Berondo,
The fair and fearless freeman, July 15, 2005 iccle.org/newsletter_children/0507/index.php3 [accessed 7 July 2011] [scroll down] CHILD LABOR RAMPANT
IN CEBU, DOLE SAYS -
Although DOLE did not give figures on how many children are working in Cebu, it is considered as among the “hot spots” for child
prostitution where a number of kids are found working in pyrotechnics,
prostitution, domestic labor, mining and quarrying, deep-sea fishing, and
sugar cane plantations. Violation of Children’s and Women’s Rights: The Case of
Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation [PDF] Ms. Mehr Khan, UNICEF Regional
Director, www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/slru/ic2003/Khan.pdf [accessed 16 April 2011] THE SCOPE AND NATURE OF THE PROBLEM
IN THE EAP REGION -
Most sexual exploitation of children is by local men. In the Philippines, for
example, it is thought that nine out of ten customers of child prostitutes
are Filipinos. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Child Prostitution - |
Human Trafficking in [Philippines] [other countries]Street Children in [Philippines] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Philippines