C S E C The Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/childprostitution/Philippines.htm
|
|||||||||||
|
CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of child prostitution are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring how children got started, how they survive, and
how some succeed in leaving. Perhaps
your paper could focus on runaways and the abuse that led to their
leaving. Other factors of interest
might be poverty, rejection, drug dependence, coercion, violence, addiction,
hunger, neglect, etc. On the other hand,
you might choose to write about the manipulative and dangerous adults who
control this activity. There is a lot
to the subject of Child Prostitution.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Helping girls flee
brothels Craig and Marc
Kielburger, www.thestar.com/News/article/221184 [accessed 6 July
2011] The tape showed
hundreds of children as young as 5 locked in cages stacked a half-dozen high.
Most were child prostitutes, caught in that country's
rampant sex tourism trade. Broadcast
on CNN, it highlighted an issue the world couldn't ignore, and hit hardest in
North America, where many of the children's regular customers live. More than 60,000
Filipino girls work as child prostitutes. They are recruited by pimps in
rural areas of the country from unsuspecting, desperately poor families who
send their daughters to the city to earn extra money. "It's everyone from the sleazy to the
elite," Father Shay says of the tourists who frequent child brothels.
"All levels of society and every nationality." Girls are sold in the brothels and on the
streets for as little as $25 and can see as many as 10 customers a day. If
they don't make enough money, they are beaten. ***
ARCHIVES *** ECPAT Country
Monitoring Report [PDF] Veyoma Hevamange,
ECPAT International, 2011 www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/a4a_v2_eap_philippines.pdf [accessed 6
September 2020] Desk review of
existing information on the sexual exploitation of children (SEC) in the
Philippines. The report looks at protection mechanisms, responses, preventive
measures, child and youth participation in fighting SEC, and makes
recommendations for action against SEC. Human
Rights Reports » 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 10, 2020 www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/philippines/ [accessed 6
September 2020] SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN - The law prohibits the commercial exploitation of
children and child pornography and defines purchasing commercial sex acts
from a child as a trafficking offense. The statutory rape law criminalizes
sex with minors under 12 and sex with a child under 18 involving force,
threat, or intimidation. The maximum penalty for child rape is 40 years in
prison plus a lifetime ban from political office. The production, possession,
and distribution of child pornography are illegal, and penalties range from
one month to life in prison, plus fines of from 50,000 to five million pesos
($935 to $93,500), depending on the gravity of the offense. While authorities
endeavored to enforce the law, inadequate prosecutorial resources and
capacity to analyze computer evidence were challenges to effective
enforcement. The government made serious efforts to address these crimes and
collaborated with foreign law enforcement, NGOs, and international
organizations. In October the Department of Justice’s Inter-Agency Council
Against Trafficking partnered with the International Justice Mission, the
Digital Freedom Network, and others to conduct several Prosecuting Online
Sexual Exploitation training seminars for prosecutors and law enforcement
officers on both prosecuting cases and obtaining and presenting digital
evidence. Alumni of this program successfully convicted 33
online sexual exploitation of children cases in the year to October. Despite the
penalties, law enforcement agencies and NGOs reported that criminals and
family members continued to use minors in the production of pornography and in
cybersex activities. The country remained the top global internet source of
online child pornography. Children continued
to be victims of sex trafficking and the country remained a destination for
foreign and domestic child sex tourists. Additionally, the live internet
broadcast of young Filipino girls, boys, and sibling groups performing sex
acts for paying foreigners continued. The government continued to prosecute
accused pedophiles and deport those who were foreigners and to stop the entry
of identified convicted sex offenders. To reduce retraumatization
of child victims and spare children from having to testify, the government
increased its use of plea agreements in online child sexual exploitation
cases, which significantly reduced the case disposition time. In February,
for example, a woman pled guilty to attempted trafficking in persons, child
abuse, and possession of child pornography. Acting on a tip, police caught
the woman offering to sell streaming video of her nine-year-old daughter
performing sexual acts. The daughter and four other children were removed
from the home. Using the aforementioned tools, police closed the case in
three months without retraumatizing the children. The NBI and the PNP
worked closely with the labor department to target and close facilities
suspected of sex trafficking of minors. From January to June, DSWD data
reported 29 cases in which children were victims of sex trafficking and 13
cases of child pornography. 2018 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2019 www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2018/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 6
September 2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 971] Children, primarily
girls, are trafficked domestically from rural communities to urban centers
and tourist destinations for the purpose of domestic work and commercial
sexual exploitation. (31,33,48) Research indicates
that the Philippines is the top global Internet source of online commercial
sexual exploitation of children (OSEC). Children are
induced to perform sex acts at the direction of paying foreigners and local
Filipinos for live Internet broadcasts which usually take place in small
Internet cafes, private homes, or windowless dungeon-like buildings commonly
known as “cybersex dens.” (8,32,33,49-54) According to data on OSEC victims
collected by the International Justice Mission Philippines, the average age of
victims was 16 to 18 years, and the median age of the victims at the time of
rescue was 12. (8,33,55) Additionally, according to the most recent available
data from 2018 the Philippines Department of Justice’s Office of Cybercrimes
reviewed over 576,000 reports of online child abuse and cybercrimes from the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. (8,54,56) Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 3 June 2005 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/philippines2005.html [accessed 16
December 2010] [84] The Committee
expresses its grave concern about the sexual exploitation of children,
including growing child prostitution, and the reported cases of child
pornography in the State party. The Committee notes with concern that the
provisions of the Special Protection of Children against Child Abuse,
Exploitation and Discrimination Act (Republic Act No. 7610) are mainly
related to child prostitution and do not adequately protect victims of other
forms of sexual exploitation. Furthermore, the Committee notes with concern
that the minimum age of sexual consent is not clearly enough established in
the State party’s domestic legislation and that the Revised Penal Code
(Republic Act No. 3815) imposes maximum penalties for sexual offences when
the victim is under 12 years of age but imposes lower penalties for sexual
offenses against minors over 12 years of age. [85] The Committee
welcomes the adoption of, in 2003, the new Anti-Trafficking Law (Republic Act
9208) and other measures taken by the State party in the areas of prevention
of trafficking and protection of victims, such as the establishment of
Anti-Illegal Recruitment Coordination Councils, the Trade Union Child Labor
Advocate (TUCLAS) initiative and the establishment of an Executive Council to
suppress trafficking in person particularly women and children. But the
Committee is gravely concerned about trafficked Filipino children both within
the country and across borders. The Committee expresses its concern about
existing risk factors contributing to trafficking activities, such as
persisting poverty, temporary overseas migration, growing sex tourism and
weak law enforcement in the State party. The world of RP’s 4
million child workers Child Labor in the
News, May 3, 2009 unionssaynotochildlabor.com/inthenews/the-world-of-rp%E2%80%99s-4-million-child-workers/ [accessed 6 July
2011] “PROSTITUTION” to pay for school
fees is just one of the many guises of children in the Philippine flesh
trade. Child prostitution takes many
appearances, from stripping and indecent dance; massage; guest relations;
mobile sex trade in streets and malls; on board docked ships or boats; and
outright sex slavery in sex dens.
Nobody really knows how many Filipino children are in the sex trade,
but they could number up to 100,000, according to the International Labor
Organization (ILO). Most are girls,
but the number of boy prostitutes is increasing. IACAT and IJM
elated over latest conviction of human trafficker piadispatch.blogspot.com/2008/11/pia-dispatch-thursday-november-27-2008_357.html [accessed 17
September 2011] [scroll down] The four (4)
accused were convicted for victimizing minor girls, with ages ranging from
14-16 years old. The victims had been sexually exploited and were made to
work as prostitutes by the accused. One of the four complainants was promised
the job of a cashier, while the other three were told they will work as group
dancers. Instead, they all ended up as GROs in a videoke
club and were forced to engage in acts of prostitution. They also were not
brought to Laguna as agreed, but instead to Daraga,
Albay. The victims were never allowed to leave the videoke club, until they were rescued by the NBI
Anti-Human Trafficking Division. – htcp A Brave and Loving
Woman Fr. Shay Cullen, 13
March 2008 www.pinoypress.net/2008/03/13/fr-shay-cullen-%C2%BB-a-brave-and-loving-woman/ [accessed 6 July
2011] asianjournalusa.com/a-brave-and-loving-woman-p4283-119.htm [accessed 13
November 2016] Josie Magano is one of the bravest Filipino women I ever met.
One day she came asking help to rescue her teenage daughter from the clutches
of a Danish sex tour operator who owned a hotel in Baloy
Beach in Olongapo City. Halfway houses at
ports protect sex trade victims Gerald Gene R. Querubin, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Batangas
City, 11/22/2007 www.traffickingproject.org/2008/03/halfway-houses-at-ports-protect.html [accessed 6 February
2016] A female recruiter,
who promised Ana a job as a storekeeper in Wisdom Dzidedi Donkor, Public Agenda, allafrica.com/stories/200711051563.html [partially accessed
6 July 2011 - access restricted] RESEARCH FINDINGS - In the Cops told to probe
alleged child prostitution in Digos city services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20071010-93624 [accessed 6 July
2011] Last week, a
nine-year old student at a public school here went missing for three
days. When the girl resurfaced, she
said she was recruited into prostitution by a gang operating at the Rizal
Park, a stone's throw from the city hall and the police station. Fighting The Child
Sex Trade - One priest's battle to protect exploited kids Michael Satchell,
USNEWS, Olongapo At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July
2011] Pia Agustin Corvera became a prostitute at the age of 9. An aunt who
raised her in a Manila slum rented her to foreign men with Pia receiving 120
pesos–$3–for each encounter. After three years, according to a social
worker's report, she was sold to a visiting German pedophile. Today, the morose
16-year-old with a ravaged psyche and an uneasy smile has found refuge here
in a therapeutic community for child victims of sexual abuse run by a
57-year-old Irish priest, the Rev. Shay Cullen. The tiny Filipino girl is
slowly learning to trust again, and while understandably shy, she describes
with brutal simplicity the sum of her experiences. Says Pia: "I felt
like garbage." Filipino girl Child Exploitation At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July
2011] A Filipino girl, at
the tender age of three, was forced to perform oral sex on strangers. What's
worse is that her pimp is her own mother, a drug addict. The girl's plight is shocking but not
unique, said Dr Jean D'Cunha
from the United Nations Development Fund for Women (Unifem). Children of increasingly young ages are
being forced into prostitution to fuel the billion-dollar tourism trade in
child sex, said international experts on prostitution and human trafficking
at a conference here. Add the growing
number of similarly victimised young women, and the
experts believe that 'millions are being trafficked worldwide for the sex
trade. The
path to recovery of Isabel and Irene Source:
www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=51822 www.preda.org/main/archives/2006/r06092701.html [accessed 24 April
2012] The
flight schedule was pinned up on the wall. The pimps arrived and began to
argue with the police claiming that they had an understanding with the police
chief. But the police we had with us were from a different station. While
they were busy discussing the payoff, the Preda
team went into the house with the mother and found Isabel. They got her out
into the van and sped away before anyone could stop them. It was clear that
there would be no investigation and no arrests. If only we could have rescued
all the girls it would have been a great day’s work but unfortunately it was
impossible. The girls were teenagers and one of then had a baby. Two men convicted
of sex tourism ordered to pay victims in RP www.sunstar.com.ph/static/net/2005/09/14/two.men.convicted.of.sex.tourism.ordered.to.pay.victims.in.rp.%281.p.m.%29.html [Last access date
unavailable] A man convicted of
traveling to the Sex tourism is big
money for pimps and politicians Father Shay Cullen, Preda Foundation At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July
2011] To be left homeless
and abandoned at 13 years old with a younger brother to provide for was too
much for Angelina. Hungry and hopeless, begging food in a public park and
nowhere to go, she found hope and happiness in the offer of two women job
recruiters. Wising Up On Sexual
Trafficking Of Women And Children [DOC] Delia Jurado, The Freeman, February 16, 2005 www.twnside.org.sg/title2/ttcd/SO-10.doc [accessed 18
December 2010] [scroll down] Cebu is considered
as one of the top five areas for child prostitution and sex tourism. The prevalence of
human trafficking Wenna A. Berondo, The Freeman, Jul 03, 2005 www.philstar.com/cebu-news/284771/prevalence-human-trafficking [accessed 28 June
2013] According to him,
Cebu is among the top five areas in the country where child prostitution and
sex tourism are prevalent because it is the destination of international and
domestic trafficking of kids ages 11 to 17 from nearby provinces of Samar,
Leyte, Bohol, and Negros. The End Child
Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual
Purposes said that the number of commercially and sexually exploited children
in the country is increasing. The Philippine Plan of Action estimated that
there are between 60,000 to 75,000 children in the Child prostitution
in Cebu alarming – ILO The Philippine Star,
www.libertadlatina.org/Asia_Philippines_Cebu_Child_Prostitution_Rates_Alarming_06-13-2005.htm [accessed 7 July
2011] Most of these
children aged 11 to 17 are classified as “freelancers,” or doing their trade
while they roam the city streets. The study may not be extensive as it should
have been, but the ILO-IPECL said this should be enough to be alarmed and to
do something about child prostitution. Five Years After ECPAT: Fifth Report
on implementation of the Agenda for Action ECPAT International,
November 2001 www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/five_years_after_stockholm.pdf [accessed 13
September 2011] [B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – PHILIPPINES– The Philippines officially adopted its National Plan
of Action titled the Framework for Action against the Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children 2000-2005 in November 2000. The Philippine
Government also produced a long-term “Philippine Plan of Action for Children
(PPAC): the Filipino Children 2000 and Beyond” where commercial sexual
exploitation is recognized as an area where priority attention and action are
required. Report
by Special Rapporteur [DOC] UN Economic and
Social Council Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-ninth session, 6 January
2003 www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/0/217511d4440fc9d6c1256cda003c3a00/$FILE/G0310090.doc [accessed 7 July
2011] [61] Awareness
about sexual exploitation of children is high and the Government has
introduced a series of policy and legislative measures since the early 1990s
to address the issues. The legislative framework to protect
children is comprehensive and certain acts have been revised with the
protection of children in mind. In particular, the
Anti-Trafficking in Children Act is currently in its fifth draft and includes
provisions such as the protection of the trafficked child from criminal
liability, appropriate training for persons who work with child
victims/survivors and the penalization of those facilitating the trafficking. However, certain realities remain to be
addressed, including that children can still find themselves imprisoned
following their “rescue” from brothels and other exploitative environments,
and prosecutions against often-wealthy exploiters continue to fail through
inadequate legal procedures. Stop Child
Pornography Today! United Nations
Children's Fund UNICEF At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July
2011] CHILD
PROSTITUTION IS A KIN OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY - The A Living Hell - A
Cultural Perspective On Child Prostitution In The Jim Blaylock,
AgeOfConsent.com, 27 Feb, 2001 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July
2011] In the Family And Friends
Push Children Into Prostitution AsiaNews/Agencies, www.asianews.it/news-en/Family-and-friends-push-children-into-prostitution-1884.html [accessed 7 July
2011] Recruiters often
justify getting children into the sex trade by saying
that they are “helping” them and their families. Recruiters can be immediate family members
or people known to family and friends.
The fight against child prostitution is hampered by the victims'
reluctance to testify and the inexperience of prosecutors. Philippines-Children:
Scourge Of Child Prostitution Sol F. Juvida, Inter Press Service News Agency IPS, MANILA, Oct
12, 1997 www.ipsnews.net/1997/10/philippines-children-scourge-of-child-prostitution/ [accessed 7 October
2012] Sharon,
a 13 years-old schoolgirl was forever cutting classes at her
village school and, fearful of her parents wrath, took a bus from her village
and headed for the big city - Manila.
She wound up in Free Trade and
Child Prostitution in the Father Shay Cullen, Preda Foundation At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July
2011] Jemma was only a
child. 14 years old . when I first saw her she was
dressed in a bikini , had a name tag attached and was gyrating on the stage
in a sleazy bar, in Angeles City, a hundred kilometers north of Manila
,Philippines. The Modern Scourge
of Sex Slavery Dr. Martin Brass,
Soldier of Fortune Magazine, www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,SOF_0904_Slavery1,00.html [accessed 7 July
2011] [3rd
photo caption] Filipino children, victims
of child prostitution, wait to testify before Philippine Congressional
committee on child prostitution and human rights, as 200 street children
rallied, in a downpour outside, in support. About Virlanie – History Virlanie Foundation, Inc. At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July
2011] 1998
- Establishment of Ma Maison for children aged 14
years and above who have suffered abuse, child prostitutes or victims of
physical maltreatment. Street
Children in the Tomoko Kojima,
1999-2000 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July
2011] Besides street
children, there is child prostitution in Child labor rampant
in Wenna A. Berondo, The fair and fearless freeman, July 15, 2005 iccle.org/newsletter_children/0507/index.php3 [accessed 7 July
2011] [scroll down] CHILD LABOR RAMPANT
IN CEBU, DOLE SAYS
- Although DOLE did not give figures on how many children are working in
Cebu, it is considered as among the “hot spots” for child prostitution where
a number of kids are found working in pyrotechnics, prostitution, domestic
labor, mining and quarrying, deep-sea fishing, and sugar cane plantations. Violation of
Children’s and Women’s Rights: The Case of Trafficking and Commercial Sexual
Exploitation
[PDF] Ms. Mehr Khan, UNICEF Regional Director, www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/slru/ic2003/Khan.pdf [accessed 16 April
2011] THE SCOPE AND NATURE
OF THE PROBLEM IN THE EAP REGION - Most sexual exploitation of children is
by local men. In the Philippines, for example, it is thought that nine out of
ten customers of child prostitutes are Filipinos. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** ECPAT Global
Monitoring Report on the status of action against commercial exploitation of
children - PHILIPPINES [PDF] ECPAT International,
2006 www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/EAP/Global_Monitoring_Report-PHILIPPINES.pdf [accessed 6 July
2011] The While tourism has
been used to promote economic growth, it has also resulted in child sex
tourism in the Philippines. In research conducted in Cebu in 2004, all the
taxi drivers surveyed responded that they had had an encounter with a foreign
tourist accompanied by a Filipino minor. Interviews conducted in a drop-in centre for victims of commercial sexual exploitation
(CSE) showed that 70 per cent of the girls assisted were aged between 11 and
17 years. Cebu is a prime tourist destination in the Philippines, and is
advertised on websites providing information on where sex services are
available. Two years ago, an American national was arrested as he tried to
leave the US for the Philippines for making arrangements to have sex with two
Filipino girls aged 9 and 12. There are indications that this kind of
pre-arranged child sex tourism takes place in the country, and is highly
facilitated by the Internet. Nationals from Austria, Australia, Belgium,
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands and the
United States have been arrested in the Philippines for sexual offences
against children. The Department of
Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/philippines.htm [accessed 16
December 2010] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children living on the streets engage in informal
labor activities such as scavenging or begging. Children are also
engaged in domestic service and are involved in the commercial sex industry,
including the use of children in the production of pornography and the
exploitation of children by sex tourists.
Children are reportedly trafficked internally for purposes of
commercial sexual exploitation and labor. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61624.htm [accessed 10
February 2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– The Virlanie Foundation, a local child protection
NGO, estimated that there were at least 20 thousand child prostitutes in the
country, most in the Metro Manila area. Other NGOs estimated that as many as
100 thousand children were involved in the commercial sex industry. Most of
these children were girls, and nearly all had dropped out of school. These
children come from very poor families with unemployed or irregularly employed
parents. The Virlanie Foundation offered housing, training, and
counseling services to child prostitutes. An ILO program resulted in more
than six thousand children being removed or prevented from engaging in the
worst forms of child labor, including the commercial sex industry All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Child Prostitution - |
