Thursday, August 14, 2008

Philippines Among Top 5 Nations with Most Trafficking Victims in the World According to NBI



From GMA News:

August 11, 2008

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is among the top five countries in the world where most human trafficking victims come from, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said Monday.


In the Weekly Kapihan ng Bayan forum in Sulo Hotel, lawyer Ferdinand Lavin, chief of NBI’s anti-human trafficking division, said there are more than 15 million human trafficking victims worldwide and the country has a “good share” of the number.


He said 80 percent of human trafficking victims in the country are females below 18 years old, and that they are usually brought to Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and even Cyprus.


“They are usually forced by syndicates to work as househelp, entertainers and even sex workers particularly in the South East Asian region,” Lavin said.


Lavin admitted that tracing human trafficking victims is a difficult task because most of them are “willing victims” and will only seek the help of the government when they experience abuse from employers.


He also said they are having difficulty in tracking down human traffickers especially in Mindanao.


“We can prevent those (individuals) that will use our air and sea ports, but there are also those who use the so-called southern backdoor,” he said.

Read the full article

No comments:

Post a Comment