Many of the world’s vulnerable have limited or no access to education and lack the financial resources to overcome the adverse impacts of natural disasters. Forced by poverty to inhabit low-lying coastal deltas, riverbanks, flood plains, steep slopes and degraded urban environments where the impact is most severe, poor households are unable to recover when their homes, livelihoods and assets are destroyed by natural disasters. This was the case in the Philippines after Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall on 8 November 2013. The typhoon brought catastrophic loss of life and livelihoods. It affected 16,078,181 individuals, resulted in 6,300 deaths and displaced 4.4 million people. 

This joint report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) examines human trafficking and illegal recruitment in Typhoon Haiyan-affected areas and evaluates if and how IOM and ILO livelihood interventions assisted vulnerable workers. The four-month research included literature and document review, interviews with 35 government and non-governmental organization (NGO) actors and a random sample of 169 households enrolled in IOM’s cash-for-work programmes and ILO’s emergency employment and other livelihood recovery programmes. It aims to understand the human trafficking situation in Haiyan-affected areas and the impact of livelihood activities on reducing the vulnerabilities of Haiyan-affected persons through the following: (a) evaluating relevant international legal instruments and Philippine laws on human trafficking, illegal recruitment and labour exploitation; (b) analysing survey results collected in Haiyan-affected areas; and (c) providing specific recommendations  on steps that should be taken by national and international actors to combat human trafficking and illegal recruitment and strengthen vulnerable households livelihood options.