Take a look at the beta version of dw. We're not done yet! Your opinion can help us make it better. We use cookies to improve our service for you. You can find more information in our data protection declaration. Sex tourism, child prostitution, and human trafficking are closely linked in the Philippines. Corruption and prostitution are flourishing because of the country's inability to enforce law and prosecute criminals.
But two years ago, the teenager could not even imagine going to school, making friends and living in a normal house. She had no dreams for the future. In those days, instead of going to school, Leilane was working for a daily minimum wage and living in a bar. At the age of 14, she started working as an "entertainer" in Olongapo, a city located to the north of the capital Manila.
And they all sought sexual services from underage girls. Leilane, however, does not wish to speak about her past, and instead wants to focus on her future. She has overcome the humiliations and harassment she experienced during this period.
The Philippines, along with Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, is a global hub for child and teenage prostitutes. Sex tourism is widespread in many Philippine cities and is one of the most lucrative income sources of organized criminal groups. While around , people in the Southeast Asian nation are involved in prostitution, about , children are being forced into the sex trade every year, according to UNICEF estimates.
They are often children from poor families living in the country's poverty-stricken slums and rural areas, from where they are trapped and exploited by pimps.
