Human Trafficking in the Philippines Research Paper

Human Trafficking in the Philippines - Research Paper Example 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 domes tic 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 co untries 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).