Typhoon Yolanda – also known as Haiyan – struck the central part of the country November 8, 2013, leaving at least 6,300 people dead and over four million displaced. A month after Typhoon Haiyan, the United Nations Population Fund estimates that 5,000 women were subjected to sеxual violence. A study by the Health and Human Rights online publication shows the majority of young girls and women in Manila’s sеx industry come from poverty-stricken areas – such as Leyte, Samar, Cebu and southern Mindanao – and enter trafficking through force, deception, economic desperation and psychological manipulation. (Photo by Hannah Reyes Morales/The Washington Post)

Jaime “Ka Diego” Padilla (R), spokesperson of the Melito Glor Command of the New People's Army (NPA), and Ka Kathryn (Comrade Kathryn) (L) react during their 50th founding anniversary celebration at an undisclosed location in the mountains of Sierra Madre, Philippines, 31 March 2019. (Photo by Alecs Ongcal/EPA/EFE)

Ukrainian soldiers from the assault brigade inflict fire damage with a 120 mm mortar while supporting the assault operations of the infantry on April 19, 2024 in Ukraine. The country's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has warned its allies that if more military aid for Ukraine is not approved soon, such as the long-stalled aid package from the United States, it could usher in a “Third World War”. (Photo by Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)

A vendor gestures as he arranges watermelons for sale at a market in Colombo on February 17, 2025. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

Ukrainian territorial defence soldiers from the Donetsk Oblast fire D-20 artillery in the direction of Toretsk, Ukraine, 24 July 2025. (Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A child dressed as a New York Fire Department member watches the Veterans Day parade behind a New York Police Department officer on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City on November 11, 2025. (Photo by Kylie Cooper/Reuters)

Li Tingting, second from right, laughs as she is lifted off the ground by her wife Teresa Xu, right, outside of a beauty salon where the two were preparing for their wedding as clerks from an adjacent shop look on in Beijing, Thursday, July 2, 2015. Li, a 25-year-old prominent women's rights activist who was released from detention in April, held the wedding ceremony with her partner Teresa on Thursday and announced their marriage in an effort to push for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights in China. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)

Pakistani Waseem Akram, 27, dances during a private party in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. By day, Akram sells mobile phone accessories from an alleyway shop in an old neighborhood of this Pakistani city, Thursday, January 15, 2015. Across conservative Pakistan, where Islamic extremists launch near-daily attacks and many follow a strict interpretation of their Muslim faith, male cross-dressers and the transgendered face a challenge of balancing two identities. Some left their villages for the anonymity of a big city, fearing the reactions of their families while still concealing their identity from neighbors and co-workers. (Photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP Photo)