International Justice Mission

When Ruby* was just 14 years old, her parents died, leaving her grieving and alone on their family farm in the Philippines. She thought her solitary life would end when a recruiter sent her a private message on social media offering her a job with their staff in a computer shop. The recruiter won her trust by offering free board and lodging while she worked for them, even offering to pay for the travel fare from her farm to the city of Pampanga, some 400 miles away. The recruiter and her partner even sent an assistant to pick her up from the port. Imagine Ruby’s dismay when she discovered that the “job” she was about to do was far from what she was offered. Instead of working in a computer shop, she was locked in a house with other young girls and forced to perform sex acts in front of...