Human trafficking in Angeles City

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Human trafficking in Angeles City, Philippines is a significant problem, with several thousand young girls working as prostitutes, some as young as six years old.[1] This prostititution is often forced by various means and so is regarded as sex slavery.[2] Angeles has become one of the favored destinations of paedophile sex tourists from Europe, the United States and Australia.[3][4]

Contents

[edit] History of sex slavery in Angeles

The sex slavery trade started during the time of the U.S. military base called Clark Air Base. Around the base organized crime built up a massive sex slavery trade catering to staff on the base. Sister Sol Perpinan of Third World Movement Against Exploitation of Women, estimated that by the mid-80s the sex industries around the bases in the Philippines had generated more than usd$500 million.[5] But when the Mount Pinatubo volcano erupted in 1991, it destroyed most of the base and the US closed it down in 1992. Most of the sex slavery trade closed with it, but when Manila Mayor, Alfredo Lim closed down the sex slavery area of Ermita in Manila, the gangs shifted the trade to Angeles.[6] Since then the sex slavery trade has continued to grow. The Salvation Army estimates there are as many as 150,000 girls working in prositution in Angeles, although there are few other sources to support this number.[1]

Forced prostitution is regarded as slavery.[2] Children and teenagers are lured into the industry from poor areas by promises of money and care, and are kept there by threats, debt bondage and the fear of poverty[7].

The current trade is described as being dominated by Australian bar operators and sustained by tourists seeking cheap sex, often with children. Girls are sold with the usual deal being offered by scores of bars to hundreds of mostly foreign men every night in Angeles being a "bar fine" of 1000 pesos ($A27.60) for sex.[4]

[edit] Child prostitution

In Angeles, it is estimated that as many as 75% of trafficked slaves are children.[7] UNICEF quotes the Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development that "anywhere from 60,000 to 600,000 streetchildren are victims of child prostitution" in the Philippines as a whole[8] while Angeles City is regarded as one of the country's top five spots for child prostitution.[7] UNICEF estimates that there are some 200 brothels in the notorious Angeles City that offer children for sex.[9]

The United Nations in a study found extensive evidence of child pornography in Angeles City[10]

[edit] Reaction of foreign governments

The Australian Law Reform Commission undertook an investigation into sex slavery and Human Trafficking in Angeles and stated: "When the Manila local government attempted to close down the sex industry in central Manila, many of the businesses moved to Angeles", "Filipino population would regularly use the services of prostituted women and children." This is in addition to the masses of male tourists that flock to this growing international sex-capital, "Girls are quickly forced into prostitution".[6]

The United States, "State Department watch list of Asia Pacific countries", has placed the Philipinnes on the "Tier 2 Watch List". The report stated that the Philippine government did "not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking."[11]

In 1998 the UK government announced a clampdown on child sex tourism where paedophiles from rich western countries travel to poorer countries such as the Philippines for the purpose of exploiting children.[12]

[edit] Corruption

Along with the sex slavery trade comes all forms of government corruption. A Senate investigation led by Jamby Madrigal, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations found: "Police investigators have been found to let off foreign men accused of having sex with minors in exchange for sums of several thousand euro."[13]

An investigation by the Government of Australia and Australian Law Reform Commission found, "Corruption in the police force and among politicians is reported to be prevalent".[6]

[edit] Cyberporn Sex Rings

Over the past few years there has been a rise in cyberporn sex rings in Angeles. Philippines lawmaker Joseph Santiago states that Angeles City alone, has been classified a cybersex and sex-tourism hotspot by the Philippines National Police.[14] Police have already smashed a number of paedophile cyberporn rings in Angeles.[15] Further police raids on cybersex dens in Angeles City have shown that they are run by foreigners and that the customers are expatriates from the West as well as affluent men from Japan and South Korea.[16] Police have revealed that that children are being sold by their parents in this "new market".

Agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Angeles City police conduct numerous investigations and raids on cybersex dens. In one armed opertion, they rescued 23 women and two children after policemen conducted raids on three cyber sex dens in Balibago, Angeles City. The police also made a number of arrests.[17]

[edit] Arrests and people actions

The sex slavery and human trafficking trade in Angeles has resulted in numerous public protests around the world. Several million people gathered in Rizal Park, Manila to protest against the sex slavery trade in Angeles.[citation needed]

A number of arrests against those involved in the trade has taken place as a result of international media attention.[4]

Child welfare Organization, "Preda", has led the fight against the child sex slavery trade in Angeles. Working undercover, volunteers with hidden cameras have uncovered child brothels in Angeles.[18][4]

The United States of America and NATO commanders are trying to implement a zero tolerance forbidding troops to frequent sex bars in places such as Angeles City.[19]

In Angeles City a women’s organisation has sponsored street food stalls, outside the foreigner bars and clubs, which are run by women who have left the sex industry. The stalls now form a venue for past and current workers and their friends and associates to gather and organise over issues such as the rape of bar staff by expatriate owners.[20]

Some women’s organizations have taken up the issues of prostitution and/or trafficking in the Philippine Network Against Trafficking in Women (composed of WEDPRO, Women’s Legal Bureau, Women’s Crisis Center, Women’s Health Care Foundation, Conspectus, Kalayaan); the Nagkakaisang Kababaihan ng Angeles City Multi-Purpose Cooperative (NKAC, or United Women of Angeles City Multi-Purpose Cooperative) in Angeles City. Together with another organization, the Women’s Health Care Foundation, WEDPRO sponsors a clinic in Angeles City. Twice a month the clinic goes to the communities and renders medical services to the urban poor communities, specializing in reproductive health issues, including services for pap smear, referral for HIV/AIDS testing, etc.; this program originated in Olongapo City, with Buklod as the implementing organization in that city. Organizing in the communities in Angeles City, at the moment, are four priority sites (Balibago, Malabanas, Anunas, Capaya II)—these are the most marginal areas in the region and where the rate of prostitution and the potential for trafficking are highest. [21]

The Philippine Mission to the United Nations hosted an international conference on Trafficking on Women and Girls. The president of the (UN) General Assembly and the (UN) Secretary-General participated.[22]

The sex slavery trade in Angeles has also led to an online petition calling for a United Nations Peace Keeping force to be placed in Angeles.

[edit] The Victims

Nicknamed the "sin city", children are repeatedly raped by foreign pedophiles in angeles.[23]

Those invloved in the Kidnapping of children in Angeles often make video tapes of children being sexually abused.[24]

The horror stories of the victims is sickening, one 13 year old child Sharon tells how she was forced to service more than 1,500 clients before she escaped.[25]

The UN paper says there are also cases in which the children are "kidnapped, trafficked across borders or from rural to urban areas, and moved from place to place so that they effectively disappear".[26]

Victims of the child prostitution trade in Angeles are subjected to threats of violence against their person and family. Children in Angeles are at risk of hiv/aids from pedophiles. Angeles City is one of the high risk communities for hiv/aids and one of the key centers of prostitution and drugs[27]

A 1999 survey in Angeles found 12% syphilis among female sex workers, 26% had gonorreha, and 38% had chlamydia[28]

The first HIV infections in Philippines amongst Filipnos was documented in 1985 among prostitutes in Angeles. However, it is illegal in the Philippines to force somebody to take an AIDS test, so there is no way of knowing how many children have been infected with hiv/aids in Angeles by pedophiles.[29] In fact, in the Philippines, children are not tested for hiv/aids.

Women and children involved in prostitution in Angeles are vulnerable to rape, murder, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. [30] Some men said that it served them right to be infected by men.[31]

Bar staff are frequently raped by expatriate owners.[32]

Women and children who become pregnant after being raped are forced into backyard abortion clinics because abortion is illegal in the Philippines. Unsafe abortions render women vulnerable not only to infections and other health complications, but even to death. Because these abortions are carried out in backyard abortion clinics there is no record of how many women and children die each year as a result.[33]

[edit] Violence and Murder of Women and Children in Angeles

Violence and murder against women and children caught in the sev slavery trade in Angeles is used by both the gangs, customers and police. One brutal murder of a streetwalker was carried out by police who killed and dismembered her body. Another girl had her ear bite off by a customer. Women are often hurt, hit, or raped if they resist.[34]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Progress in the Fight. The Salvation Army International (2006-04-01). Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  2. ^ a b "Asia's sex trade is 'slavery'", BBC News, 2003-02-20. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  3. ^ Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation, The Philippines. University of Rhode Island Womens Studies. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  4. ^ a b c d Mark Baker. "'Daddy' accused of providing child sex", The Age, Australia, 2003-09-15. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  5. ^ http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,SOF_0904_Slavery1,00.html
  6. ^ a b c Confronting Sexual Exploitation. Australian Law Reform Commission (1995). Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  7. ^ a b c Sol. F. Juvida (1997-10-12). Philippines - Children: Scourge of Child Prostitution. Inter Press Service News Agency. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  8. ^ Child pornography is larger than you imagine. UNICEF. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  9. ^ "Britain to Take Action Against Sex Tourists", BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
  10. ^ http://www.globalmarch.org/clns/clns-april-2005-details.php
  11. ^ The Philippines (Tier 2 - Watch List). United States Department of State. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  12. ^ "Clampdown on child sex tourism", BBC News, 1998-04-01. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  13. ^ John Burke; Eoghan Rice (2006-09-24). Revealed: In cities and towns all over the Philippines, Irishmen pay to have sex with children. PREDA. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  14. ^ "Asia hunts sex tourists", The Asian Pacific Post, 2007-09-07. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  15. ^ "Hunt for Boss of Internet Paedo Ring", Sunday Mirror, 2004-04-04. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  16. ^ Internet Pushing Real Time Porn. Inter Press Service News Agency (2006-12-19). Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  17. ^ http://www.preda.org/archives/research/digest/digest100.html
  18. ^ Father Shay Cullen SSC (August 1997). Paper to Child Labor Coalition, Washington. PREDA. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  19. ^ Fr. Shay Cullen, MSSC. "Universal Jurisdiction Needed to Convict Child Traffickers", Philippine NewsLink, 2005-09-21. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  20. ^ Inquiry into Prostitution Final Report. Social Development Committee of the Parliament of South Australia (1996-08-21). Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
  21. ^ http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/mhvbt.htm
  22. ^ http://www.preda.org/archives/research/digest/digest100.html
  23. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3238033.stm
  24. ^ http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=65569
  25. ^ http://www.ips.fi/koulut/199742/6.htm
  26. ^ http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/50/101.html.
  27. ^ http://www.catw-ap.org/patri.htm
  28. ^ http://www.remedios.com.ph/fhtml/mk1q2006_2ihb.htm
  29. ^ http://www.amrc.org.hk/4707.htm
  30. ^ http://cpcabrisbane.org/Kasama/2005/V19n1/Swagman.htm
  31. ^ http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/mhvbt.htm
  32. ^ url = http://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/San/public/%7B7B62844A-267E-4E9A-82F9-224DC2FDA3E8%7D/09threportinquiryintoprostitutionfinalreportpt1/09threportinquiryintoprostitutionfinalreportpt1/html/09threportinquiryintoprostitutionfinalreportpt1_39.htm
  33. ^ http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/mhvbt.htm
  34. ^ http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/mhvbt.htm

[edit] External links

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