According to the Philippines Republic Act 9208: Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, trafficking in persons "refers to the recruitment, transportation, transfer or harboring, or receipt of arsons with or without the victim’s consent or knowledge, within or across national borders by means of threat or use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the persons, or, the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation which includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the removal or sale of organs."
Also, to attract and influence people, traffickers use the internet, social media, and other technologies. Citizens of all ages are susceptible to social networking exploitation. Traffickers use mobile phones to keep track of their individuals. Many traffickers utilize the internet and social media for exploitative motives.
In 2000, the United Nations adopted an international agreement, the Trafficking Protocol, to fight human trafficking, which established a standard definition. According to this, human trafficking includes three elements:
Act: recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring or receiving people
Means: threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of power, or paying someone in control of the person
Purpose: exploitation
Exploitation in sex trafficking can mean being forced into prostitution, forced to perform sexual acts (including exotic dancing), and forced to participate in the production of pornography
Sex trafficking in the Philippines
There are many types of human Trafficking that happens in the Philippines These types include
Trafficking to overseas destinations
Trafficking in pornography which refers to any representation, by publication, exhibition, cinematography, indecent shows, information technology, or however, of a person in an explicit sexual act or an explicit sexual depiction for reasons of sexual arousal
Mail -order bride trafficking
Organ trafficking
Forced labourwhich means the taking of work or services from someone, whether by force, coercion, fraud, or the like.
And Sex trafficking
According to the US 2018 Trafficking in Persons report, Labour Trafficking and Sex Trafficking are the most common forms of trafficking in the Philippines. It was also reported that 60% of trafficking in East Asia is sex trafficking.
In the Philippines, the most common forms of sex trafficking found are in commercial sex tourism and online.
Sex Tourism refers to travel and tourism-related programs, businesses or institutions that incorporate and offer escort and sexual services to lure customers. This includes, but not limited to, services that are provided while the soldiers are off duty and relaxing (GRO bars), karaoke bars, strip clubs and massage parlours.
Who are being trafficked in the Philippines?
Women and children who originate from an impoverished background, who are unemployed, without family support, and have poor education background are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking.
From impoverished families in rural communities, areas affected by conflict/disasters and those internally displaced in typhon-stricken places
Children from remote areas in the Philippines and are then sold to exploiters.
Children are also being trafficked online through OSEC or Cybersex trafficking
Migrant and overseas workers
Approximately 10 million Filipinos work abroad, with an estimated 3% without a contract. These people are highly susceptible of being trafficked abroad
Filipino migrant workers from rural communities when they move across the Philippines looking for work.
Indigenous groups - Women and children from indigenous/tribal families and remote areas of the Philippines are also vulnerable to sex trafficking.
How does sex trafficking happen?
Individuals typically end up in a human trafficking situation due to five various typologies:
Self-initiation
Force/deceit/coercion/debt bondage
Persuasion by relatives
Influence of friends/coworkers
Specific family or personal events.
Debt bondage
Debt bondage occurs when a person is forced to work to pay off a debt. They are tricked into working for little or no pay, with no control over their debt.
Most or all of the money they earn goes to pay off their loan. The value of their work invariably becomes greater than the original sum of money borrowed.
According to Human Rights Watch, the practice of "debt bondage" among sexual traffickers is common, and women often find that their so-called debts only increase and can never be fully repaid, thus keeping them “stuck” in trafficking situations. Recruiters sometimes buy children and sell them into prostitution. Most often the children have either been stolen from their villages or sold off by their poor families
Trafficking and Families
In Southeast Asia, family financial needs or dissatisfaction with their current employment are common reasons for anyone to become involved in human trafficking.
The family unit is the most important aspect of Filipino culture, and family members are expected to provide for one another.
Trafficked individuals who are tricked are more likely to stay in trafficking situations to escape family repercussions when they work to relieve their family's financial pressures.
However, not all of the trafficked individuals come from impoverished backgrounds. Some of the survivors characterized their families as "affluent," but they lacked education as a result of their poor academic results. So they were either tricked into trafficking situations or unwittingly agreed to become a part of it.
Trafficking across country or abroad
Trafficked Filipinos in a foreign country face additional challenges such as location, language, and culture, increasing their reliance on their trafficker. To ensure that their trafficked individuals comply with their requests, traffickers instill fear in them, intimidating and threatening them with arrest, fines, as well as physical/sexual assault, drugs, withholding their passports or visas, etc.
Trafficking and Law Enforcement
Due to corruption, traffickers may have informal contacts and understandings with police and government officials, thereby keeping them anonymous. Furthermore, individuals who testify against their traffickers fear retaliation by their traffickers and are sometimes undermined in courts.
Trafficked individuals are often denied the security services they need and are often arrested for trafficking. As a result, there is a distrust between them,law enforcement and the courts, making them less likely to seek assistance.
Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC)
The other common form of sex trafficking in the Philippines is called Online Sexual Exploitation on Children or OSEC, or Cybersex trafficking.
Traffickers sexually exploit children, individually and in groups, through live internet broadcasts in exchange for money wired through a money transfer agency by someone in another country, including the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
UNICEF's 2016 study places the Philippines as the epicenter of live stream sexual assault. In the Philippines, 80% of youngsters are vulnerable to internet sexual abuse or bullying. Additionally, over 2.5% of children in the country have been seen nude on the internet or a cellphone.
International Justice Mission reported that 72% of their OSEC cases found that OSEC traffickers are often family members. Furthermore, over 50% of the individuals rescued together were siblings or had some other familial link (e.g. cousin).
In the Philippines, a Child refers to a person below eighteen (18) years of age or one who is over eighteen (18) but is unable to fully take care of or protect himself/herself from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation, or discrimination because of a physical or mental disability or condition.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community based anti-trafficking groups are working hard to prevent sex trafficking, protect vulnerable populations, lobby for policy reformation, and even rehabilitate survivors both at local and global levels. Fight4Freedom is an active part of this community who hopes to raise awareness of sex trafficking and to see the end of this issue.
How you can help fight sex trafficking?
You can join us in our fight to stop sex trafficking and end modern-day sex slavery by VOLUNTEERING in our ongoing outreach or administration ministry areas, committing to PRAY for survivors, PARTNERING with us in raising awareness and advocating for policy reform, and/or DONATING to Fight4Freedom to help fight the injustice of human trafficking.