A comparative study on intervention policies anitiatives against human trafficking for sex in Iloilo City and Boracay, Malay, Aklan

Abstract

Human trafficking is considered as one of the most rampant and pervasive crime because of its transnational nature. The increasing statistics of human trafficking cases is alarming thus the call for a more stable and strong intervention policies and initiatives against human trafficking. Our study pondered on the existing intervention policies and initiatives against human trafficking focusing on sexual exploitation. The main argument of this study rests on the following questions. First, what are the existing intervention policies and initiatives against human trafficking for sex. Second, on whether and how identified challenges such as victim identification, public awareness and underground transactions affect the implementation of the policies and programs. And lastly, how is the level of community participation despite the presence of existing challenges. The researchers employed a Process Theory Integration that entails to merge different theories from different discipline in order to interpret the data gathered. The different theories used by the researchers are Economic Theory to explain the presence of underground transactions Prospect theory to give details on public awareness and Consent Theory to elucidate on the topic of victim identification. Data gathering in this study ranged from the use of secondary data, community profiling, key informant interviews and participant observation. The observed findings show that the implementation of the existing policies and programs against human trafficking are greatly affected by the identified challenges. Furthermore, there is low level of conununity participation however the citizens are willing to help in tire implementation process. The actors that are involved in combating human trafficking should review the policies for possible loopholes and strictly implement the ordinances and programs