"From schools to the skies, Philippines widens anti-trafficking crackdown," 26 March 2018

From intercepting trafficking victims at the airport to helping survivors find jobs, a city-wide drive to combat the growing crime launched ... in Angeles, in the Philippines.

Police, prosecutors, charities, and government and aviation officials... are joining forces to boost support for victims and educate people to prevent them being trafficked.

Angeles...is considered a trafficking hotspot in the Southeast Asian country. Nearby Clark airport is a major travel hub and common entry and exit point for both traffickers and their victims...

The anti-trafficking partnership - made up of a dozen groups - also aims to engage children at school and in vulnerable communities, and work with local leaders to raise awareness.

While similar initiatives have been adopted in other parts of the country, including the capital, the one in Angeles is the most comprehensive to-date, said the Visayan Forum Foundation.

Victims include domestic workers being exploited and enslaved overseas, as well as a booming sex industry inside the country - from forced prostitution to cybersex child trafficking, whereby victims are abused over livestreams.

About 400,000 people in the country - or one in 250 of the population - are estimated to be trapped in modern slavery, found the 2016 Global Slavery Index by the Walk Free Foundation.

Yet the Philippines is the only nation in the region to have received the top ranking for efforts to combat the crime in the United States government’s “Trafficking in Persons” report for two consecutive years, local officials said...