Human Trafficking in the Philippines - Research Paper Example

Human Trafficking in the Philippines Human trafficking is a major problem affecting almost every country. Gonzales (2012) notes that human trafficking has increased in the recent past becoming number two crimes after overtaking illegal arms trade. Human trafficking refers to the act of recruiting, transporting, harboring, or transferring persons from one region to another (Gonzales, 2012). It may involve the use of force, abduction, coercion, giving payment, slavery, fraud, deception, or other forms of sexual exploitation. Human trafficking has since become a serious global problem since its impacts is being felt by almost every country worldwide. Philippine is among the top countries where human trafficking is at its top. Report indicates that Philippines acts as a source, destination and transit country for women, men and children who are trafficked and subjected to forced labor and sex among other forms of exploitations. Philippine women are trafficked throughout the different parts of Asia, after being deceived of decent job opportunities. The same applies to Philippine men and children who are increasingly being shipped to different parts of Asia (Castles and Miller, 1998). Estimates from ILO indicate that about 1 million Filipino women and men are shipped to foreign countries every year for work opportunities. The finding also found out that about 10 million Filipinos currently work and live abroad. Most of these Filipino migrants are subjected to conditions of forced labor, sex workers, or domestic workers throughout Asia. Report indicates that most Filipino women employed as domestic workers abroad are subjected to all manner of atrocities and exploitation. The women are raped, battered, and sexually abuse. At the same time, Skilled Filipino immigrant workers such as doctors, accountants, engineers are also forced to work under voluntary servitude. Reports indicate that Filipino women are increasingly being trafficked as commercial sex workers in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, and other Asian Countries (Gonzales, 2012). Opportunities available to "organize the crime" The high rate of human trafficking in Philippine has been catalyzed by a number of factors. Poverty and unemployment top the list as the key factors that offer the opportunity for the organization of the crime. Report indicates that Philippine is one of the poorest countries in Asia. The poverty level is particularly high in rural areas. The slow economic growth has also made it difficult for the government to create enough jobs for its over 92 million people. This means that many Filipinos are jobless. This has made the poor and jobless Filipinos vulnerable to illegal recruiters offering better prospects to poor Filipinos abroad. This has seen many Filipinos fall victim of the illegal recruiters who ship them abroad with the hope of getting greener pastures. However, a majority of the Filipinos who fall prey to the illegal recruiters end up in agony when they land in the foreign countries where they are exploited either as sex workers or forced labor (Arias, 2011). Philippine has also experienced successive civil strife like the one experienced in the southern part of the country. The civil strife increased poverty level in this area where polygamy is common thereby increasing the vulnerability of residents to trafficking. Report indicates that residents of southern Philippine violently displaced by the civil war were forced to migrate to other countries as a way of looking for a place where they could improve their present situation. This offers a great opportunity for traffickers to offer their services. Such was also witnessed during the 2010 civil strife in the country, which left over 130,000 Filipinos displaced by the violence vulnerable for trafficking. This is because they were longing for a safer place where they could carry on with their businesses (Arias, 2011). Additionally, poverty, dependency burden and population growth experienced in Philippine have forced some parents to consider child labor as a means to manage inadequate family income. The parents end up giving out their children to illegal recruiters in the hope that their children would be able to send them part of the salaries offered to their children abroad (Gutierrez, 2012). Shahani (2008) argues that the massive unemployment and civil wars on the national scale compelled the Marcos dictatorship to introduce a policy encouraging overseas immigration in 1970s. Shahani notes that given the booming economies in East Asia, the urgent need for unskilled and skilled labor in the oil-rich Middle East and the aging population of North America, Western Europe and Israel, a sizeable market opened up for Filipino labor. The complicity of law enforcement officials as regards human trafficking has also offered a great opportunity for the organization of the crime. Findings show that the high level of corruption at all levels of the Philippines government has enabled traffickers to prosper. This is because they conspire with the government officials who are bribed to allow easy trafficking of Filipino citizens abroad (Gutierrez, 2012). Arias (2011) indicates that natural disasters is one of the most crucial elements of Philippine’s geography that affect human trafficking. According to Bruggeman (2002), apart from social and economic causes, natural disasters such as floods also make people immigrate. It is a well-known phenomenon that when typhoon hits the tiny island of Philippines, hundreds of thousands of people usually get affected by floods and landslides living them with no choice but to move to safer grounds. However, when a natural disaster affects a large number of households, people find it prudent to immigrate. This offers a great opportunity for traffickers to offer their services. This has been witnessed in Philippine quite a number of times when a natural disaster occurs such as earthquakes and perennial flooding. Networks involved In Philippine, human trafficking is done through collusion between complicit law enforcement officers and the organized crime syndicates. Report indicates that the complicit law enforcement officers in the country conspire with fraudulent recruitment agencies and practices to ship migrants out of the country. Traffickers use local recruiters who are sent to different urban centers and rural areas throughout Philippine to recruit friends and families. The networks consist of commercial sex industry that traffic young girls and women abroad. Report indicates Philippines have many commercial sex industries that illegally traffic women to foreign countries in the pretext that they are going to be offered a good job opportunities. However, findings show that a majority of Filipino women and girls fall prey to these crime syndicates in the hope that going abroad would offer them a greener opportunity (Arias, 2011). Arias (2011) notes that routes used for transporting victims of human trafficking in Philippine depends heavily on whether it is a case involving domestic or international human trafficking. In case of international trafficking, trafficker tends to transport their victims from their provinces before being flown out of the country through airplanes to different destinations in Asia, Europe, America, and Middle East using forged documents. Others are shipped out of the country via the port of Zamboanga. The port, according to Arias (2011), is located in Mindanao and is synonymous with illegal trafficking of Filipinos to Malaysia. The port is regarded as the backdoor exit of Philippines. The victims that land in Malaysia are exploited there or are sometimes transported again to other countries. Domestic trafficking, on the other hand, usually involves transfers by air, land, or sea from one city to the next (Gutierrez, 2012). Here, Filipino victims are located from their villages by the recruiters and taken to urban areas where they are exploited by their so-called employers. The political, social, and economic capital used by the networks to fill the structural holes. Human trafficking is illegal in Philippine and is regarded as a criminal offence. In fact, the government of Philippine has enacted laws that put stiff penalties on those found trafficking Filipino citizens to other countries illegally. Nevertheless, recruiters have always managed to traffic many Filipinos abroad who end up being exploited in their new destinations through sexual harassment, rape, forced labor and volunteer servitude. Recruiters have always been able to do this due to structural and ineffective legal framework to deal with the problem (Shahani, 2010). Firstly, the agencies participating in the illegal trafficking of Philippine citizens takes advantage of the high corruption at all government levels in the country. Study shows that Philippine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. As a result, recruiters tend to collude with complicit government officials to facilitate easy trafficking of citizens to different countries in the world. Report indicates that the government officials are bribed not to take any action and to help sneak out victims of human trafficking (Shahani, 2010). The networks also use high poverty level in the country to lure their victims. As earlier pointed out, Philippine is one of the poorest countries in the Asian continent. The economic growth is also very low resulting in lack of employment opportunities. This forces many Filipinos to consider seeking employment abroad. Traffickers, however, use the economic situation of the Philippines to recruit Filipino men, women, and children in the pretext that they are going to be offered well-paying jobs abroad. However, a majority of those who are recruited get dismayed upon arrival to their intended new destinations. This is because, instead of getting what they are promised while still at home, they end up being enslaved, sexually assaulted and given odd jobs at little or no pay at all. This implies that stopping human trafficking in Philippine must start by tackling the poverty problem. This implies boosting the country’s economic situation so as to generate enough jobs for the increasing population (Shahani, 2010). Social system of organized crime Trafficking of Philippine girls is aided largely by poverty. In this regard, some Philippine parents believe that giving out their children for child labor helps relieves them of the burden of having to cater for a huge family. In addition, based on the social construct of Philippine, there are those parents who believe that selling their girls enables them get funds with which to cater for family needs (Gutierrez, 2012). The process of organizing the crime Human trafficking is a very lucrative business and is usually organized in three main stages. The first stage usually involves the recruitment of a person. The recruitment usually involves luring people through false promises of jobs, education, or marriage. Recruitment process sometimes involves the use of threat or force, abduction or paying persons in charge of the person being trafficked. Once a person has been recruited, the next stage involves transportation to the intended destination. This may be within or outside the country depending on whether trafficking is domestic or international. Border crossing can be legal or illegal. In case illegal channel is used the recruiters may bribe authorities to aid easy passage of borders. Transportation can be in the form of road, air, or sea. The last stage involves exploitation of the person trafficked. This may take the form of sexual exploitation, debt bondage, forced labor, forced marriage, slavery, illegal adoption, or removal of human organs (Bryman, 2004). Beneficiaries of the racket The human trafficking indicates benefits virtually everyone involved in the trafficking. Firstly, the trafficking agencies are normally the greatest beneficiaries of human trafficking indicate. This is because they are paid enormous sums of money in exchange of the person being trafficked. This explains why indicate is considered a lucrative business. The second major beneficiary is the client to whom the person is being trafficked. This is based on the services they get from the person being trafficked, which may be in the form of free labor, sexual satisfaction or adoption just to name, but a few. Thirdly, some parents and guardians giving out children to be trafficked abroad also benefit from massive sums of money there are given in exchange of their children. The last beneficiaries of the syndicate are the government officials at the borders or airports who are bribed hefty money to aid the process of trafficking (Bruggeman, 2002). Relationship to authority (Philippines) The Philippine government was listed in the Tier 2 in the 2011 U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report for not doing enough to prevent human trafficking in the country. Nevertheless, the government has since made significant efforts aimed at eliminating trafficking of persons out of the country. This is evident from the fact that the Philippine government prohibits both sex and labor trafficking through the 2003 Anti-Trafficking of Person’s Act. The Act prescribes penalties, which includes up to life imprisonment. The law also permits the NGOs, and private prosecutors to file lawsuits against anybody suspected of trafficking. So far, the government has convicted more than 25 trafficking offenders (Gutierrez, 2012). In case of child labor, the 2009 new regulations by the Department of Labor and Employment enhance instant closure of suspected agencies involved in the act. So far, Dole has ordered the closure of 22 establishments for engaging minors in prostitution. The new laws and regulations indicate the Philippine government’s commitment to eliminating trafficking in the country (Gutierrez, 2012). References Arias, A. (2011). Gambling their futures: the agency and livelihood strategies of “victims of human trafficking in the Philippines. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam. Bruggeman, W. (2002). Illegal immigration and trafficking in human beings seen as a security problem for Europe. London: EUROPOL. Bryman, A. (2004). Social research methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Castles, S. & Miller, M. (1998). The Age of Migration. In: Lee, M. (2005) Human trade and the criminalization of irregular migration. International Journal of the Sociology of Law, 33: 1–15. Gonzales, I. (2012). Philippines must tackle its human trafficking shame. Retrieved May 17, 2013 from http://newint.org/blog/majority/2012/11/12/human-trafficking-philippines/ Gutierrez, A. (2012). Preventing human trafficking in the Philippines: Overview and current activities. Retrieved May 17, 2013 from http://www.unafei.or.jp/english/pdf/RS_No87/No87_00All.pdf Shahani, L. (2010). Situating human trafficking in the Philippines: global, national, and personal contexts. Retrieved May 17, 2013 from http://www.law.washington.edu/AsianLaw/HumanTrafficking/Shahani_keynote.pdf Read More