Forced Labor and Sex Trafficking Among Filipino Women:An Investigation of this Crisis & Exposure via Communication Performance & June: A Trigger Script

According to the 2010 Trafficking in Persons report produced by the United States government, over 6.8 million women and children across the globe were forced into labor or into the sex trade. The Philippines was recently promoted to Tier 2 in the summer of 2011 as mandated by the United States Trafficking Victims' Protection Act after being on the Tier 2 Watch List in 2009-2010. Being on the Tier 2 Watch List means that the Philippine government did not enforce laws that combat human trafficking in 2009-2011. It was speculated that the country had the potential to be demoted to Tier 3. In 2011, they were still having problems in this area, but the Philippine government is making significant efforts to prevent human trafficking. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate forced labor and sex trafficking among Filipino women in the Philippines. The paper seeks to educate the collegiate audience on this subject and aims to inspire conversation and action. Through the course of the research study, three prominent themes emerged that could be the major contributing factors that make Filipino women vulnerable to trafficking. They are as follows: (1) the Philipine government's corruption/lackadaisical effort to fight trafficking, (2) economic factors, whereas a majority of cities and regions in the Philippines have a high percentage of people living in poverty, on top of an unwillingness to hire women in the fields other than the service sector, and (3) familial and cultural norms with their strong emphasis on stereotypical sex roles can be perceived as discrimination at birth which in turn, contributes to the victimization of the Filipina. This thesis also investigates the tactics of traffickers, how the traffic Filipinas and examines why Filipinas cannot or will not escape.