Human Trafficking in [Philippines Street Children in [Philippines] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Philippines] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic of the Philippines [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Republic of the The Philippines is primarily a country of
origin for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial
sexual exploitation and forced labor. A significant number of Filipino men
and women who migrate abroad for work are subjected to conditions of
involuntary servitude in Bahrain, Canada, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Cote d’Ivoire,
Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Palau, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa,
Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Women and children are also trafficked
from poor communities in the Visayas and Mindanao to urban areas such as
Manila and Cebu City for commercial sexual exploitation, or are subjected to
forced labor as domestic servants or factory workers. Filipinas are also trafficked
abroad for commercial sexual exploitation, primarily to Japan, Malaysia,
Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and countries in the Middle East and
Western Europe. Traffickers used land and sea transportation to transfer
victims from island provinces to major cities. A growing trend is the use of
budget airline carriers to transport victims out of the country. Traffickers
used fake travel documents, falsified permits, and altered birth
certificates. A smaller number of women are occasionally trafficked from the
People’s Republic of China, South Korea, and Russia to the Philippines for
commercial sexual exploitation. Child sex tourism continues to be a serious
problem for the Philippines. Sex tourists reportedly came from Northeast
Asia, Europe, and North America to engage in sexual activity with minors. - U.S. State Dept
Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2008 [full country
report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in the Philippines. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their
authenticity or to verify their content. ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Trafficking Of Women And Children A girl child in the Philippines is
discriminated upon early in life due to culture-based and family reinforced
gender biases. For instance, despite her special nutritional needs in
preparation as future mother and nurturer, the girl child is allotted less
food than her father and her brothers. When money for education is scarce,
her brothers are given the preference. The Filipino girl child takes the
stereotyped role of her mother who is portrayed as an abused and submissive
woman relegated to domestic work. Moreover, the public considers girls and
women as sex objects and typifies them as club/bar entertainers, beauty
pageant contestants, and racy or pornographic film stars. The pejorative expectations that
Filipino society has on women and children are compounded by problems of
extreme poverty; massive labor export; globalization; porous borders; aggressive
tourism campaigns; negative portrayal of women by mass media; pornography
on-line and internet chat-rooms; the practice of mail-order brides;
inter-country adoption; and joint military exercises in the country with
visiting forces from abroad. These factors cause women to become easy victims
of sex-trafficking and other forms of sexual exploitation either in the
Philippines or in countries of destination. NBI
raises alarm on child-organ trafficking www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/metro-manila/08/24/08/nbi-raises-alarm-child-organ-trafficking
The National Bureau of
Investigation alerted the public on Sunday over the rampant smuggling of
human organs in the Philippines. The NBI said smugglers are now targeting
childen who are kidnapped and taken abroad where their organs are sold to
foreign nationals. The human
smugglers, whose usual buyers are Middle Eastern nationals, allegedly abduct
children and house them somewhere in Mindanao. Lawyer Ferdinand Lavin of the NBI's Human
Trafficking Division said the victims are provided with vitamin supplements
to keep their internal organs healthy. He said the victims will then be
transported outside the country to undergo surgery for organ transplants. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children are reportedly trafficked internally for purposes of
commercial sexual exploitation and labor.
Children are also known to be involved in the trafficking of drugs within
the country. There are no reports of
child soldiers in the government armed forces, but children under the age of
18 are used as soldiers in paramilitary and armed opposition groups such as
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Abu Sayyaf Group and the New People’s
Army. Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Both adults
and children were trafficked domestically from poor, rural areas in the
southern and central parts of the country to major urban centers, especially
Metro Manila and Cebu, but also increasingly to cities in Traffickers targeted persons
seeking overseas employment. Most recruits were females ages 13 to 30 from
poor farming families. The traffickers generally were private employment
recruiters and their partners in organized crime. Many recruiters targeted
persons from their own hometowns, promising a respectable and lucrative job. Victims faced exposure to sexually
transmitted or other infectious diseases, and were vulnerable to beatings,
sexual abuse, and humiliation Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2005 [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. IACAT
and IJM elated over latest conviction of human trafficker www.pia.gov.ph/default.asp?m=12&r=&y=&mo=&fi=p081128.htm&no=18
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 NBI
raises alarm on child-organ trafficking www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/metro-manila/08/24/08/nbi-raises-alarm-child-organ-trafficking
The National Bureau of
Investigation alerted the public on Sunday over the rampant smuggling of
human organs in the Philippines. The NBI said smugglers are now targeting
childen who are kidnapped and taken abroad where their organs are sold to
foreign nationals. The human
smugglers, whose usual buyers are Middle Eastern nationals, allegedly abduct
children and house them somewhere in Mindanao. Lawyer Ferdinand Lavin of the NBI's Human
Trafficking Division said the victims are provided with vitamin supplements
to keep their internal organs healthy. He said the victims will then be
transported outside the country to undergo surgery for organ transplants. Oro,
Bukidnon top trafficking cases www.sunstar.com.ph/static/cag/2008/07/29/news/oro.bukidnon.top.trafficking.cases.html Cases of human trafficking this
year are high in Bukidnon province and Cagayan de Oro compared to other
places in Northern Mindanao, said the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO)
Task Force Against Human Trafficking. She said women are more preferred
by human traffickers because of "the availability of the labor force for
women." The "jobs"
offered for women often include forced prostitution, while others land into
forced labor, slavery, servitude, or the removal of organs, she added. Ex-diplomat
implicated in human trafficking www.gulfnews.com/world/Philippines/10227535.html globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view/20080710-147507/Ringing-phone-weeping-maid-a-friend-in-deed PRIVILEGE ABUSE - Under labour rules, Filipino diplomats
can recruit personnel from the Philippines to serve in their own
household. In the civil case she filed
against the Bajas and their travel agency, Baoanan, a registered nurse, said
she had paid P250,000 to her recruiters so that she could enter the US
legally. While serving as maid to the
family that facilitated her entry to the US, she said she was to serve them
16 hours a day and was paid only $100 for three months of work. Human
trafficking victim now an entrepreneur ESCAPING A BAD MARRIAGE - “We washed clothes, cleaned the
house. We were not given breakfast. [We were fed] noodle soup cooked in a
bucket of water with some eggs. The rice was either spoiled or smelled bad.
We were not allowed to talk to each other and we were prohibited from calling
our relatives,” Pacheco said of the ordeal.
The women came from her village in Sapang Bato in Angeles City or from
various parts of Mindanao, all hoping to get jobs in the Middle East, she
said. For her part, Pacheco thought
she could escape a bad marriage by working abroad. Trafficking
of Filipinas in Singapore 'unabated'--embassy In November 2007, INQUIRER.net
posted a special report on the growing number of young Filipino women being
lured to Singapore on the false promise of a high-paying job only to end up
in prostitution. The increased
incidence of trafficking of Asian women, including Filipinas, to Singapore
prompted the United States State Department to downgrade the city-state's
rating from Tier 1 in 2006 to Tier 2 this year. Philippine Ambassador to Singapore
Belen Fule-Anota said Filipinas who want to work overseas must scrutinize
their recruiters in the Philippines well and ensure they have valid contracts
before leaving the country. She also
advised jobseekers to have their contracts duly verified by the Philippine
Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) "before packing their bags for
Singapore." DOJ
chief, kidney recipient, wants organ trafficking outlawed The issue got the attention of
media, who reported that it was becoming more common for poor people and
prisoners to sell their kidneys and other organs for paltry sums to
syndicates catering mostly to foreign clients. Human
Trafficking in the Philippines: Victims’ Kin Part of Problem — and Solution Dubbed “Tuna Capital of the Philippines,”
General Santos City in southern Mindanao is considered a trafficking
“hotspot” because of the proliferation of bars and transit houses, according
to the Visayan Forum Foundation, a non-government organization that works to
monitor and curb the crime. The city with its large seaport is a traditional
crossing point to nearby Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. But on top of its strategic
location, human trafficking thrives in this city because of effective
parental consent, according to Rebecca Magante, chief of the local social
welfare and development office and secretariat head of LIATFAT. “The sad fact is that parents egg their
children on when they are approached by these people in the hope they will
send back money to the family,” she says. Organ
trafficking: a fast-expanding black market China, India, Pakistan, Egypt,
Brazil, the Philippines, Moldova,
and Romania are among the world's leading providers of trafficked organs. If
China is known for harvesting and selling organs from executed prisoners, the
other countries have been dealing essentially with living donors, becoming
stakeholders in the fast-growing human trafficking web. Trafficking
of Filipinos in Singapore ‘all-time high’ The modus operandi essentially has
illegal recruiters promise young women non-existent jobs as waitresses or
guest relations officers in restaurants and hotels in Singapore. They are each charged a minimal S$100 to
S$1,000 as recruitment fee in the Philippines, and given roundtrip tickets
(sometimes the return ticket is fake), a fake invitation letter, and “show
money” for showing to Philippine immigration officials who scrutinize their
financial capacity as tourists.
Expecting to work in legitimate jobs, Filipinas end up working as
prostitutes. They are forced to provide sexual services to customers and earn
commissions from alcoholic drinks to enable them to pay the $1,000 to S$4,000
they allegedly owe their handlers. The
report said victims who fled to the embassy were provided shelter and
assisted in their repatriation back to the Philippines. They are interviewed,
their affidavit taken, and are advised to file a complaint either in
Singapore or in the Philippines. Solon
seeks action vs human trafficking in Visayas In a statement, An Waray Rep.
Florencio “Bem" Noel said hundreds of Eastern Visayan women and young
children are going to spend their Christmas inside brothels and sweatshops in
Metro Manila as the trade of human trafficking continues unabated. “For these young Warays, Christmas
means spending the holidays inside a dark room with a complete paying
stranger or working to death inside factories not fit for humans," Noel
said. “With the grinding poverty, the
cases are bound to increase every year and the solution is the combined
vigilance of Eastern Visayas provincial and local leaders, law enforcement
agencies and the national government through the DSWD," Noel said. “As the end of school season draws
near, students from poor families are lured with summer jobs in Metro Manila.
The offer is usually tempting for families that cannot afford send their
children in the next school season," he said. He said the victims are usually
recruited as househelp or workers in seedy factories only to end up working
without pay in sex brothels and sweatshops. DSWD
bats for comprehensive program to hasten rehab of human trafficking victims Mrs. Sampang emphasized to the
victim-survivors during the dialogue, not to blame themselves as they are
just victims of ignorance and lack of awareness of the modus operandi of
illegal recruiters. "Your cases
should serve as eye opener to other youth and individuals not to become the
next victim of human trafficking", she added. On the other hand, Director Finardo Cabilao
of DSWD Central Office noted in his message the increasing incidence in the
country of human trafficking or commoditizing human beings, including such
activities as selling of body organs, mail order brides, hard labor and
prostitution which are becoming customary in nature. Human
trafficking cases in E. Visayas ‘alarming’ Eastern Visayas continues to be a
source of women and children being sent to Metro Manila brothels and
sweatshops, and the number of trafficking cases is alarming, according to the
Department of Social Welfare and Development in the region. DSWD officials said the number of human
trafficking cases was increasing despite efforts to stop them. She said the victims were mostly
children and women who were recruited by trafficking gangs. The victims end
up working without pay in brothels and sweatshops in Metro Manila, she said. ‘Sex
slaves’ sue for human trafficking The complainants alleged that they
were recruited by an unnamed Filipina recruiter who has connections with a
Malaysian immigration officer and offered them jobs as waitresses and were
deployed abroad without going through the POEA for document processing. But against their will, they were
allegedly made sex slaves and were not allowed to go out of the building
where they are housed. There are still more than 40 other Filipinas in the
sex den and more are being recruited, they said. Halfway
houses at ports protect sex trade victims A female recruiter, who promised
Ana a job as a storekeeper in Cavite, flew her from her home province of
Bukidnon to Manila in January 2006. From there, she was brought to Cavite and
forced to work as a guest relations officer (GRO) in a bar and, eventually,
as a prostitute. With three other
girls—all minors—Ana was made to work from 4 p.m. till past midnight. If the
girls refused to cooperate, “Steve,” a nephew of the bar owner, would beat
them or douse them with water. - htcp 161
rescued from human traffickers -- BI Libanan said the human trafficking
victims were rescued when they were barred from leaving the country for being
"tourist workers," or undocumented overseas Filipino workers
disguised as tourists. He said the
bulk of the offloaded tourist workers were bound for the Middle East and
other destinations such as Singapore and Hong Kong. Libanan informed Arroyo that the BI
strictly implemented her directive for the agency to take the lead in
stopping the escort racket to safeguard and protect the interest of overseas
Filipino workers. 25 Pct. Of Global Human Trafficking Victims Are Filipinos www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008286912 The International Justice Mission
on Thursday said that 25 percent of global human trafficking involves
Filipinos, meaning that for every four humans trafficked across the globe,
one of them is a Filipino. Dealing
with human trafficking Leaving home to work elsewhere is
a dream many Filipinos nurture. It is their answer to poverty and
joblessness. Yet, there have been too many stories of migrants heading for
faraway places, only to find themselves in the worst kinds of employment: as
prostitutes or slaves, doing bonded labor for which they are sometimes not
paid at all. The victims of domestic
trafficking are mostly young men and women from the remote areas in the
Visayas and Mindanao. Their destination: Metro Manila. Most of them end up as
prostitutes, domestic helpers or factory workers, and discover that life in
the big city can be a nightmare. Human trafficking on the rise, with easy pickings in RP www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=84977 A distant relative had duped
Quezo's father into allowing her to travel with him to Manila when she was
barely 12, supposedly for a leisure trip. That hot summer day was the last
time she saw her family in impoverished Muslim Mindanao. The relative turned out to be a broker for
a human trafficking syndicate, but decided to keep Quezo as his personal
slave. For three years, the young girl worked for him as a cook, nanny and
maid -- and was not paid a cent. Then one day, her captor forgot to
lock the gates and Quezo escaped, only to end up lost in the dank alleys of
Manila's slums, working odd jobs that paid enough to buy food and the clothes
on her back. Quezo is now rebuilding her life,
learning livelihood skills that should help her reintegrate into society. She
remains hesitant about going home, fearful of her parents' reaction. Human
traffickers rarely punished Statistics from the Department of
Justice (DOJ) showed that since 2003, 248 cases of human trafficking have
been filed, of which the highest number was filed in 2005 with 114
cases. Deanna Perez, Senior State
Prosecutor for DOJ and head of the Secretariat of the Inter-Agency Council
against Trafficking (IACAT), said the slow disposition of cases in the courts
contributes to the low number of convictions. A large number of the cases are
still in the process of initial investigation, she said. Aside from this, some victims have
withdrawn charges for fear of their lives or simply because they cannot
endure the emotional stress of a trial. Women
comprise 75.1% of human trafficking victims in Region 8 last year However, the victims from Region 8
increased from 108 in 2005 to 132 in 2006 or a 22.2 percent increase. What is
most appalling is that more than half or 54.6% of the total trafficked
victims in the region in 2006 were children ranging from 13-17years old. Human trafficking - Editorial www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=66375 The country can play an even
better role by intensifying the campaign against human trafficking in its own
backyard. Illegal recruiters continue to lure women and even minors from
impoverished communities nationwide to work overseas as maids or
entertainers. Many of the women end up as commercial sex workers or find
themselves unable to leave employers who abuse them physically and sexually. Talent
scout nabbed for human trafficking A gay fashion show manager sending
Filipino women to China was arrested by agents of the National Bureau of
Investigation after victims complained that they ended up as sex slaves in
Macau. Lasala said Fajardo brought them
to nightclub where they had to work 20 hours a day providing sex during their
23-day stay. The duped recruits later
learned that Fajardo had abandoned them, taking all their earnings. Human
traffickers found opening up new route in Calbayog-Masbate In the end, Director Corillo said
that there is a need to educate the people especially the young adults so
that they will not become victims of human trafficking. More often than not,
the victims give consent to the human traffickers because they are in dire
need for work. Also, many times, the parents are the ones who push their
children by consenting that they go with the perpetrators. It is the consensus that poverty
is the root cause of victims of human trafficking. Aside from going after the
human traffickers so that they will not be able to continue their illegal
activities, the solution really is helping the families to have sufficient
resources. Bacolod
reports 16 cases of human trafficking She disclosed that one of the main
problems they face in dealing with TIP victims is in the reintegration of
victims to their family and community where the lack of social workers is
critically felt. Batapa is seeking for
the accreditation of local Non-Government Organizations that will fulfill the
lack of manpower and competence to handle the victims. The path to recovery
of Isabel and Irene www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=51822 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. Here are some suggestions on how
media coverage of trafficking could do better: First, get off this obsession with
“foreign” trafficking. While researching and writing the book “Nightmare
Journeys: Filipina Sojourns Through the World of Trafficking,” I encountered
stories of women who followed a route of domestic trafficking before being
trafficked abroad -- from their small towns to bigger cities, then on to
Manila, before they were shipped out of the country. Domestic trafficking
feeds global trafficking. Next, we could draw attention to
other aspects of the issue: structural problems in society that render women
and children vulnerable, issues of gender inequality and the human rights of
women and children, and the sense of male entitlement that feeds the “demand”
for a growing pool of trafficked women and children. If the media are to cover
trafficking as a “crime,” then they should make the effort to “follow the
story” to its real conclusion, and not stop at just the raid or rescue and
the arrest. Coverage from arraignment, trial and hopefully conviction, would
show both the limitations and potentials of new laws governing trafficking.
For instance, I have just found out that through the efforts of a wide range
of agencies, the government has been able to win convictions for seven
individuals on grounds of trafficking. VP
De Castro, US envoy seeking end to human trafficking De Castro said overseas Filipino
victims are usually undocumented nationals who gain entry into other
countries using visitor’s visas and end up working in sex dens or other
establishments under debt slavery conditions. Some are legally processed as
overseas workers but are victimized through violations of their original
contracts, he added. Team
ready vs human trafficking Western Visayas, particularly
Negros Occidental, is one the regions in the Philippines with a rising number
of women and children being trafficked for work and sexual exploitation. Aside from Western Visayas,
Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Central and Eastern Visayas are also considered to
be hotspots, with 127 surveillance and 77 rescue operations conducted
recently, said the labor department. NGO
gets $179,000-US grant for human trafficking victims The United States government has
provided a grant of 179,000 dollars to help a Philippine non-governmental
organization expand its halfway house operations to help victims of human
trafficking, according to a statement by the US Embassy in Manila. IT
skills training enlisted in fight vs human trafficking Based on the statistics provided
by the Visayan Forum Foundation, most victims are between 12 to 22 years old.
Since 2001, a total of 10, 523 victims and potential victims of human
trafficking in the Philippines have been served in the Port Halfway Houses,
which is a partnership program between the Visayan Forum Foundation and the
Philippine Ports Authority. The numbers may be even higher, however, because
of the difficulty in accurately tracking numbers in all the country's
regions. Hi-tech human trafficking in RP getting worse www.scitech.gov.ph/butter.php?opt=3&n_sw=1&newsid=1377 Human traffickers in the
Philippines have begun using the Internet in their operations, according to
an official of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT). IACAT chief Severino Gaña, Jr.
said at a press conference that many female victims end up working for
pornography websites where they perform sexual acts in front of webcams for
paying customers. Microsoft gives P10M to fight human trafficking in RP www.scitech.gov.ph/butter.php?opt=3&n_sw=1&newsid=1378 MICROSOFT Philippines will give 10
million pesos in cash and a software grant to a non-profit organization
enagaged in anti-human trafficking activities in the Philippines, officials
said. An estimated 10,000 survivors
and potential victims of human trafficking stand to benefit from this
two-year program. Speaking
the truth on prostitution HEADY DREAMS - Born in the southern part of
the main Philippines island of Luzon, Pascual was 16 when she began working
the bars, fresh out of high school and with heady dreams of becoming a
restaurateur. She asked her aunt for help in
getting her a job. The aunt sold her to a man who pimped her to a massive
nightclub of 3,000 girls in Olongapo in return for a cut of her first four
months of "wages." Palace
vows conviction of human traffickers The Palace spokesman issued his
statement after The Philippines was the first
country to adopt in 2003 an Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act. And Quezon City
Regional Trial Court Judge Teodoro Bay sentenced a couple to 160 years in
prison for peddling “starlets” to moneyed sex trade clients. There are seven
convictions now. Overall the
Philippines has enough laws, says the Nevada University study. “The problem
is implementation.” In Cebu, a task force operated
ineptly. Police were untrained. Lawyers lacked understanding of the new law.
“The net effect seems to be punishment of the girls, not the
perpetrators.” “They sit there and
look, like this [Cebu] 'barangay' [neighborhood district] official,” the
Nevada University study quotes a nun helping girls trapped in the red light
district. “But he has his own bars. Many of the brothels there are owned by
policemen. ‘Oh, he is my customer,’ a girl will tell us. And now, he is the
one who imprisons me.” Court finds couple guilty of human trafficking THE Quezon City Regional Trial
Court sentenced a couple to 160 years in prison for peddling starlets and
would-be movie stars to moneyed sex trade clients. In a 25-page decision, Judge
Teodoro Bay imposed four life terms against Den Jerson Tongco and his wife Alicia
in a second case of conviction against human traffickers in the Philippines. The Tongcos were also found guilty
of illegally recruiting men and women, whom the couple promised of jobs in
the local entertainment industry, only to end up selling sex to foreigners,
businessmen and moneyed professionals. DFA says 6 more convicted under anti-trafficking law The Department of Foreign Affairs
has monitored six more convictions for violation of the Anti-Trafficking in
Persons Act, increasing to seven the total number of convictions since the
law was passed in 2003. Trafficking Of Women And Children A girl child in the Philippines is
discriminated upon early in life due to culture-based and family reinforced
gender biases. For instance, despite her special nutritional needs in
preparation as future mother and nurturer, the girl child is allotted less
food than her father and her brothers. When money for education is scarce,
her brothers are given the preference. The Filipino girl child takes the
stereotyped role of her mother who is portrayed as an abused and submissive
woman relegated to domestic work. Moreover, the public considers girls and
women as sex objects and typifies them as club/bar entertainers, beauty
pageant contestants, and racy or pornographic film stars. The pejorative expectations that
Filipino society has on women and children are compounded by problems of
extreme poverty; massive labor export; globalization; porous borders;
aggressive tourism campaigns; negative portrayal of women by mass media;
pornography on-line and internet chat-rooms; the practice of mail-order
brides; inter-country adoption; and joint military exercises in the country
with visiting forces from abroad. These factors cause women to become easy
victims of sex-trafficking and other forms of sexual exploitation either in
the Philippines or in countries of destination. Sex worker joins campaign vs prostitution She was sexually assaulted by a
relative. She filed charges against her attacker, but without witnesses, the
case did not prosper. Wanting to
escape from her past, she went with a recruiter who promised her a job that
paid P1,000 a day as a saleslady in The prevalence of human trafficking 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 Illicit
cross-border trade is the ugly face of globalization news.inq7.net/opinion/index.php?index=1&story_id=37812 Unfortunately, in the Philippines, there is a dearth of baseline data on the true state of human trafficking. According to Jean Enriquez, the reasons are, among others, "the underground nature of trafficking; the stigma placed on victims of sexual exploitation; the lack of a name for the problem at the community level and awareness of acts of trafficking as violations of human rights, thus, the low rate of reporting; and the same lack of awareness among many government agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), thus, the few interventions and documentation of cases." UNICEF raps child-trafficking in RP If not being forced into
prostitution, children are made to pose nude for pornographic materials or
Web sites. "Parents think that by
taking photographs of their children naked, they are not harming them. But
they are taking away their childhood," NBI Busts Mail-Order Bride Syndicate In his report to Wycoco, NBI
Anti-Human Trafficking Division (AHTRAD) chief Romulo Asis said the group’s
modus operandi was to entice Filipino women to apply for match-marriages with
male Koreans. Asis said Korean clients
would come to the Human Traffickers - Japan Is Limiting The Entry Of All Foreign Entertainers Tokyo wants to clamp down on Japanese crime rings, or
yakuza, that bring women into that country from Asia, Eastern Europe and
Latin America for prostitution and forced labor. Sex Trafficking Growing In S.E.Asia www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/reuters/2005/04/26/world/sextraffickinggrowinginseasia.html &template=/news/templates/newswire/news_story_reuters.html Girls from the villages of Wising
Up On Sexual Trafficking Of Women And Children [DOC] [scroll down] Cebu is considered as one of the top five areas for child prostitution and sex tourism. Cebu City has become the destination point of internal and domestic trafficking of children as young as 11 to 17 years old coming from Samar, Bohol, Leyte, Negros and Bacolod. Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 4 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study Philippines
is 4th in trafficking of children www.ecpat.net/eng/Ecpat_inter/IRC/newsdesk_articles.asp?SCID=1580 The Philippines ranked fourth
among nine nations with the most number of children trafficked for
prostitution, the Consortium Against Trafficking of Children and Women for
Sexual Exploitation (Catch-Wise) reported. In the Visayas, Cebu has been the
destination of international and domestic trafficking of children, aged from
11 to 17, who are from Samar, Bohol, Leyte, Negros and Bacolod. Cebu is now considered one of the top five
areas for child prostitution and sex tourism. Rapid
Assessment: Human Smuggling and Trafficking from the Philippines [PDF] [page 22] PILOT PROJECT AGAINST TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN - The Pilot Project includes case
studies of women who have migrated for employment or marriage, either to
Iran, Belgium, Kuwait. These case studies provide details of each of these
women’s circumstances prior to, during and after migration, including how
they travelled, their expectations and their actual experiences. Three of
these case studies can be considered as case studies of victims of
trafficking. ECPAT
Philippines Launches the Anti-Child Trafficking Campaign in the Philippines THE CHILD TRAFFICKING PHENOMENA - Every year, hundreds of
thousands of children are sold and enslaved. No official figures are
available but many separate studies and assessments have been made:
Fifty-four percent of trafficked children in the Philippines are 15-17 years
old and in 1999 there were 85 child trafficking victims documented by the
Department of Social Welfare and Development. GOVERNMENT OF PHILIPPINES' ACTION
PLAN FOR COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING - The Philippines Government has acknowledged the problem
of trafficking in women and children and has carried out activities through
the collective efforts of various national and local government units, in
collaboration with non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and
international donors. The
Human Rights of Migrant Workers SUMMARY OF THE REPORT OF THE VISIT
OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR TO THE PHILIPPINES - According to the Commission on Filipinos
Overseas (CFO), 65 percent of the victims were women and 25 percent of them
were forced into prostitution; 51 percent of the victims were trafficked with
their consent/knowledge while 47 percent were deceived. Priest sets children free - Missionary to Philippines wages ongoing battle against prostitution In 1999 PREDA, through the
International League of Action, was able to bring to justice a group of
Norwegians who were trafficking children from one town in the Philippines and
bringing them to Oslo for sexual abuse. The youngest of these children were
six and seven years old. Internal
Trafficking in Children for the Worst Forms of Child Labour: Final Report This paper presents an overview of
internal trafficking in children, with focus on the worst forms of child
labour. Admittedly, much of previous researches and discussions on
trafficking as a phenomenon had been generally concentrated on women. As far
as children are concerned, and at least within the Philippine setting,
trafficking has been construed more in the context of their sale, barter and
illegal smuggle out of the country. This research document is based on the
following data: (1) interviews conducted with seven trafficked children; (2)
three case studies representing different modes of trafficking; and, (3)
previous researches and studies made by government agencies and
non-governmental organizations which focus on children and child labour. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use |
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Human Trafficking in [Philippines Street Children in [Philippines] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Philippines] [other countries]