The Ateneo Human Rights Center (AHRC), with the support of the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT), has embarked on a research project on trafficking in women and children in the Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi (ZAMBASULTA) area. Although the port of Zamboanga City has become a major hub for people trafficked to Malaysia and some other parts of the world, this phenomenon has not been the subject of many research studies. Existing literature on human trafficking in Mindanao in general, has also remained scant.