Victims are pushed by poverty, unemployment, lack of educational alternatives, peer influence, social expectations and armed conflict, and the mere inability of young people to continue their studies. Many believe in making family sacrifices.
In Philippines, the phenomenon of trafficking in women and children has two faces: serving both the overseas job markets as well as the local market. A network of headhunters who scouts for recruits in poor community earns as much as $10 to $20 per head, putting recruits in a position of indebtedness to recruiters who harbor them. Before reaching Manila and other exit airports, recruiters have to identify, screen, and transport potential victims from poor provinces. Traffickers clandestinely organize their transport operations through different ports and land routes across the country. As it happens inside the country is part and parcel of the international dynamics of trafficking, and solutions must be combined addressing these two dimensions.