by KATIE PALMER
Author and group of sex trafficking victims in the Philippines.
Child sex trafficking is rampant throughout the Philippines. Both anti-trafficking non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and government agencies estimate that 60,000 to 100,000 Filipino children, a majority between the ages of 14 and 17, are trafficked each year for purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Contrast this to Sweden, a high-income country that espouses gender equality, where national authorities estimate that between 400 and 600 children and women are trafficked annually.
NGOs’ responses to trafficking typically include three integrated steps of assistance – the rescue, the rehabilitation, and the reintegration of trafficked minorities. Most anti-trafficking NGOs have ‘human rights committees’ that frequent disco bars and brothels in search of underage victims. Once an underage girl is found, the committee develops a plan of action to rescue her. Oftentimes a male committee member poses as a john, pays the girl’s bar fee, and then takes her to a rehabilitation shelter. At the shelter, she has access to a formal education, healthy food, and rehabilitation services aimed to help her recover from the consequences of being repeatedly neglected, beaten, and raped.