Amber News - Issue 01/ April 2009

The report described the problem as serious, adding that the country was to a lesser extent, a source and transit point for men and women trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor.

“Victims, mostly women and girls from Myanmar, Mongolia, China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam, were trafficked into the country for commercial sexual exploitation,” the department said in its annual human rights country report that covered over 190 countries.

Foreign embassies, NGOs, and government authorities had reported that more than 100 trafficking victims were rescued and repatriated in Malaysia last year, many of whom were involved in prostitution.

Crime syndicates were believed to be behind most of the trafficking cases while employment agencies were also said to be heavily involved in trafficking migrant workers, the report claimed.

As the economy takes a turn for the worst, more and more rural women are driven to prostitution with some giving sexual favors in exchange for fish, rice, and even coffee.

The Center for Women’s Resources (CWR), a research and training institute for women, said it has received reports of increased incidence of prostitution in rural areas where food is planted and grown.

“The financial crisis has aggravated the condition of impoverished rural women. Although they produce food for the country, they cannot cope with the crisis because, to start with, they are landless and have been earning so little,” CWR executive director Jojo Guan said in a press statement.

“We have been receiving reports that in some parts in Southern Tagalog, women in fishing communities have resorted to provide 'massage service' to foreigners in private resorts in exchange for money,” he said.