Philippines ranks 103rd on list of 167 countries having modern slavery

Posted on November 20, 2014

THE PHILIPPINES ranked 103rd on a list of 167 countries where modern-day slavery remains prevalent, a report published by an Australian nongovernment organization Walk Free Foundation said.

In 2013, the Philippines was ranked at 98th spot in terms of prevalence, with an average of 150,000 people in slavery.

However, the report employed a change in methodology this year because the foundation commissioned Gallup, Inc., a United States-based research and consulting firm, to conduct nationally, representative random sampling surveys.

According to its 2014 Global Slavery Index, 0.26% or more than 260,000 people out of the country’s estimated population of 98 million -- including men, women and children -- live in modern-day slavery.

The report defined modern-day slavery as “possessing or controlling another person in such a way as to significantly deprive that person of their individual liberty, with the intention of exploiting that person through their use, management, profit, transfer or disposal.” It encompasses human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices, and forced labor, it said.

The Philippines fared better than most of its Southeast Asian neighbors including Cambodia, which was ranked at 14th, Brunei at the 48th spot, Thailand at 44th, Malaysia at 56th, North Korea at 63rd, Vietnam at 89th, and Indonesia at 102nd.

Several Asian countries ranked better than the Philippines in terms of percentage of population in slavery, with China at the 109th place, Japan at 127th and Singapore at 141st.

The Philippines also has the 19th spot in terms of the highest number of people in modern-day slavery, with the top five being India, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Russia.

About two-thirds of the 35.8 million people in slavery around the globe are in the Asia-Pacific Region, amounting to 23.5 million.