Trafficking of Women and Children: Updates, Trends and Challenges
Jean Enriquez
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women- Asia Pacific
E-mail: jean.enriquez@catw-ap.org , catw-ap@catw-ap.org

This paper presents the situation of trafficking of women and children trafficking within and across the borders of the Philippines. Different forms of trafficking such as bride trade, sex tourism, military prostitution, and trafficking in the guise of overseas employment or adoption; the profile of the women and children who are at-risk of trafficking; and the countries where trafficked women and children are often brought were discussed. Recommendations such as lobbying for the passage of the anti-trafficking bill; passage of a local ordinance adopting the framework of the proposed anti-trafficking law; operationalization of a Bantay-Recruiter/Bugaw Mechanism; education in local communities on how to spot a "bugaw" (pimp), illegal recruiter or trafficker; and institutionalization of services by agencies that are responsive to reports on illegal recruitment and trafficking, and are also accessible to the communities were presented.