Human trafficking is different from people smuggling. People smuggling is voluntary – in exchange of course for the smuggler’s service fees. Upon arrival to their destination, the smuggled person is usually freed. In human trafficking, the trafficking victims are trapped, they are enslaved. The terms of their debt bondage are highly exploitative and the trafficker takes away the basic human rights of the victim.

Illegal recruitment syndicates prefers the Diosdado Macapagal Airport in Clark, Pampanga and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 because of the stricter measures by the Bureau of Immigration at the NAIA 1.

The “tourist-worker” or “trainee-worker” scheme will lure would-be workers by having them leave as tourists but they are are actually leaving for employment abroad and without the proper travel documents. Victims will be deployed in the guise of student trainees taking internship programs in the service industry such as hotels, restaurants and health care institutions.

Other ploys are:

• Use of fake passports under different identities

• Exits thru the southern backdoor “where immigration control is lax”

• Undocumented workers escorted at the airports by “crooked government officials and employees”

• Leaving in the guise of participants in seminars and sports events

One example of this modus operandi is the recent case of a Korean gang illegally recruiting Filipina women who will work as nightclub entertainers in Seoul, South Korea under tourist visas. They even use a legitimate travel agency as front. Illegal recruiters like this are keeping part of the salaries of women so the women don’t receive their full pay.

In Asia, Japan is the major destination country for trafficked women in particular, especially from the Philippines and Thailand and there are currently an estimated 300,000 women and children involved in the sex trade throughout Southeast Asia

Some causes of trafficking might include:

• Lack of employment opportunities

• Organized crime

• Social discrimination

• Corruption in government

• Insufficient penalties against traffickers

• Minimal law enforcement on global sex tourism industry

Top destinations for trafficked victims also includes Italy, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, UAE and Lebanon in the Middle East as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia in Asia.

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