Human-trafficking is said to be the third most profitable business in the world, worth about $32 billion annually. The UN estimates that about 100,000 children in the Philippines are trafficked into the sex trade each year.
It is also estimated that about 40 per cent of the men that travelled to the island nation last year, did so for sex tourism – or so claimed the US Ambassador to the Philippines, Harry Thomas Junior (who later retracted the statement).
Australians are prominent among those who travel to the Philippines for sex tourism.
The recent case of an Australian man, Shaun Leong, found murdered in his bed, has refocused attention on the sex trade in the Philippines.
Two women in their twenties and two teenagers have been charged over the murder. One is a 17-year-old who was trafficked, according to court files. She had been living with Leong since she was 16.
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