Combating Modern-Day Slavery

Violence is the most urgent threat for millions of the poorest people. Throughout the developing world, this is everyday life for the poorest of the poor. No defense. No protection. Nothing to hold back violence. Not just the violence that makes the headlines like war or genocide— but common criminal violence like forced labor slavery, sex trafficking, sexual exploitation, police brutality, land grabbing and citizen’s rights abuse.[1] According to the United Nations, 4 billion people live outside the protection of the law.

Due to limitation of space, this article will focus mainly on human trafficking – the second largest syndicated crime worldwide in terms of the biggest profit next to drug smuggling. Compared to drug trafficking which requires the stringent process involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws, human trafficking requires only one element – human flesh. Drugs can only be consumed once. Humans may be exploited several times over in one day.

The illicit trade of human trafficking is a $ 32 billion industry based on a conservative estimate of the United Nations as the average annual profit raked by perpetrators worldwide. This is equivalent to PhP 5.68 trillion which is almost twice the 2014 national budget of the entire Philippine government which just amounts to Php 2.265 trillion.

In the Philippines, the public justice systems – our police, courts, and laws – are so broken, corrupt and dysfunctional, that there is nothing to the victims from violence. The Philippines has the fourth highest number of sexually exploited children. According to UNICEF, there are over 250,000 street children in the Philippines, many of whom are exposed to sexual exploitation and physical abuse.

As mentioned, sex trafficking is a form of modern slavery in which someone coerces another person into commercial sex or exploits a child in the commercial sex trade. Simply, it is sexual violence as a business. The nightmare of forced prostitution thrives when law enforcement cannot or does not protect vulnerable children and women.[2]

Criminal accountability and punishment is non-negotiable to deter and address trafficking. More and more perpetrators become rich at the expense of the bodies, lives and dreams of women and children. They are not restrained in the slightest by the threats of fines. Traffickers are in the business to make money whatever it takes; without the deterrence of potential prosecution and imprisonment. It has been proven that lesser penalties, such as fines, are meaningless to perpetrators who can easily absorb those costs into business operations that are enormously profitable.

The Philippine Congress ratified the Anti- Trafficking in Persons Act or Republic Act 9208 in 2003 which was amended by Republic Act 10364. But despite the passage of the law, there is so much to be done - police investigations of trafficking cases; provision of legal guidance to police forces and assistance in the prosecution as well as provision and coordination of aftercare services to trafficking survivors.

Human trafficking is a global crime. Curbing this is not just a problem of any government. This is a modern-day battle that must be participated by local governments, churches, community-based organizations, social service providers and the public in general to raise awareness and their level of investment in anti-trafficking initiatives in pursuit of a more effective public justice system.

[1] https://www.ijm.org/the-problem | Official Website of the International Justice Mission

[2] https://www.ijm.org/casework/sex-trafficking | Official Website of the International Justice Mission