Women and children are trapped in cycles of abuse (Philippines)

“The sexual exploitation of children for commercial purposes is a fundamental violation of their rights. It includes sexual abuse by an adult and compensation in kind or money paid to the child or to one or more third parties. The child is treated as a sexual and commercial object, which is the equivalent of forced labor and is a modern form of slavery.” In the Philippines, studies by (UNICEF's) National Statistics Office show, an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 children are involved in the sex industry.

Due to poverty and recurrent natural disasters that affect the Philippines, life for many Philippine nationals has become a disaster. Criminals have profited from this situation to build a sex industry, which results in the abuse of children.

Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Philippines

Children make up 77 percent of rape survivors in the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country, and the crime occurs at a rate of two every minute.

The consequences

The sexual abuse and exploitation of children have serious negative, even irreversible, effects that threaten the physical, psychological, spiritual, mental, and social development of children, and often even their basic survival.

Children rarely have the opportunity to demand the use of condoms and can easily catch sexually transmitted diseases. Many have admitted to their feelings of shame, guilt, and loss of self-respect. Others suffer from stigmatization or feelings of betrayal.

National plan to counter sexual exploitation

The Philippine government began to understand the seriousness of the situation in 2005, and it created a women’s bureau that brings together various government agencies, legal authorities, and local organizations tasked with identifying vulnerable girls. Awareness campaigns and other programs have saved thousands of children and given them a new start. End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) is one such local organization, which has the mission of guaranteeing that young girls get a roof over their head, advice, and training to help protect them from sex criminals and to gain the skills they need to transform their lives. Liza, 19 years old, was approached by ECPAT when she worked in a brothel in Cebu. She was able to get away and was also able to help the other girls at the brothel do the same. In total, 43 girls were saved, and they later filed a lawsuit against their exploiters.

By combining our common efforts to protect children around the world, we are laying the foundation for a better future and effective justice to eradicate the sex crime industries.

The sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines has expanded through the unregulated Internet access of pedophile networks and pornography; since 2005, the government has united local forces to fight against this evil and its grave consequences for the country’s youth.