HERE’S one disturbing news from the Associated Press the other day which reported of a 5-year-old girl whose body was found dead off a rural county in North Carolina. Police has accused her mother of selling the child for sex.
The girl’s father said he was regretful over giving the girl's mother a chance to raise their daughter who she had been offering for prostitution. It's unbelievable how a mother can do something that horrible to her little child. Such a dastardly act is particularly disturbing, akin to the crime called human trafficking.
As it is described, human trafficking is said to be the fastest-growing criminal industry worldwide with estimated annual revenue for trafficking in persons fetching up to $9 billion, says Wikipedia.
Victims of such abuse are mostly women and children who were typically recruited using coercion, deception, fraud, abuse of power or outright abduction. It may even come in a form of slavery, prostitution, forced labor and other forms of involuntary servitude.
We should be aware that human traffickers prowl on Filipinas too and as Susan Ople, executive director of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, said, this has been going in Malaysia and Singapore.
Pinays are tempted to accept job offers in these countries because of a promise of quick deployment. Thus, Filipinas risk their lives for greener pastures by crossing the borders; even elude arrest only to end up as prostitutes there.
Our country has anti-trafficking units who can go after the suspects and their scouts here but even with the presence of the Anti-Trafficking law, we only see but a small percentage of convictions being handed down.
We therefore need to campaign more for the protection of our vulnerable women workers from exploiters here and aborad. We must act now. Our soft attitude against this form of crime will only embolden human traffickers to penetrate our borders and prey on the dreams of Filipino women for a better life.
EDITORIAL
