Human Trafficking in [Japan Street Children in [Japan] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Japan] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Japan [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] Japan is a destination
and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes
of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children
trafficked to Japan for commercial sexual exploitation come from the People’s
Republic of China, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Russia, and,
to a lesser extent, Latin America. Japan is a transit country for persons
trafficked from East Asia to North America. The majority of identified
trafficking victims are foreign women who migrate to Japan seeking work, but
are subjected upon arrival to debt bondage and forced prostitution. Male and
female migrant workers are subjected to conditions of forced labor.
Traffickers use debt bondage to exploit women in Japan’s large sex trade,
imposing debts of up to $50,000. In addition, trafficked women are subjected
to coercive or violent physical and psychological methods to prevent them
from seeking assistance or escaping. Traffickers also target Japanese women
and girls for exploitation in pornography or prostitution. Many female
victims, both foreign and Japanese, are reluctant to seek help from
authorities for fear of reprisals by their traffickers, who are often members
or associates of Japanese organized crime syndicates (the Yakuza). Japanese
men continue to be a significant source of demand for child sex tourism in
Southeast Asia. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June,
2008 [full
country report] CAUTION: The
following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Forced
Labor? Male Migrant Workers In Japan
Have It Tough He points out that complaints by male workers sound very similar to those of trafficked women, such as low wages, long and exhausting working hours, and violence from their bosses. The bulk of complaints are over unpaid overtime, sometimes running into years, and injuries in the workplace. The counselor said many of the workers were reluctant to confront their bosses for fear of being deported for violating their tourist visas. Colombian
Hailed as Hero in Fight Against Trafficking in Persons Francisco Sierra, Colombia's
ambassador to Japan, has made it his personal goal to stop this trafficking
in persons that has taken so many women into forced prostitution. For his
efforts, Sierra was recognized by Secretary of State Colin Powell on June 14
as one of six heroes in the fight against an illicit industry that preys upon
society's most vulnerable members. Sierra said the women are told
they will find a better life by working in other countries such as Holland, Japan,
and Spain, but they most often find themselves trapped into working in
brothels to pay off their so-called "transportation" fees; such
fees may total as much as $50,000 to $80,000. Sierra said that the women are
expected to pay their captors roughly $2,000 every ten days or they will be
severely punished. ***
ARCHIVES *** Hot Line
Reaches Out To Women Forced Into Sexual Slavery In Japan After the State Department listed Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Trafficking
victims generally did not realize the extent of their indebtedness, the
amount of time it would take them to repay the debts, or the conditions of
employment to which they would be subjected upon arrival. According to Human
Rights Watch, the passports of women trafficked to work in "dating"
bars usually were confiscated by their employers, who also demanded repayment
for the cost of the woman's "purchase." Typically, the women were
charged $28,570 to $47,620 (3 million to 5 million yen), their living
expenses, medical care (when provided by the employer), and other
necessities, as well as "fines" for misbehavior added to the
original "debt" over time. How the debt was calculated was left to
the employers; the process was not transparent, and the employers reportedly
often used the debt to coerce additional unpaid labor from the trafficked
women. Employers also sometimes "resold," or threatened to resell,
troublesome women or women found to be HIV positive, thereby increasing the
victims' debts and possibly worsening their working conditions. Many women trafficked into the sex
trade had their movements strictly controlled by their employers and were
threatened with reprisals, sometimes through members of organized crime
groups, to themselves or their families if they tried to escape. Employers
often isolated the women, subjected them to constant surveillance, and used
violence to punish them for disobedience. There were reports that some
brokers used drugs to subjugate victims. Many trafficked women also knew that
they were subject to arrest if found without their passports or other
identification documents. Few spoke Japanese well, making escape even more
difficult. Japan
arrests Thai for human trafficking According to local police, the two
"bought" a 27-year-old Thai woman for 2.4 million yen (642,000
baht) from a broker in May to have her work at Kuo's bar. They forced the Thai woman into
prostitution, telling her she owed them a 5 million yen (more than 1.3
million baht) debt over her expenses in coming to Japan, police alleged. The case came to light after the Thai woman
sought help at the Thai Embassy in Tokyo, they said. Thai
Government and International Organizations Pledge Cooperation to Provide
Assistance to Victims "For example, a Chiang Mai
woman in her thirties was lured to Japan by a job broker from Bangkok who had
offered her a job at a home for the elderly, with a monthly salary of 30,000
baht. Upon arrival in Japan, she realised she had been tricked. She ended up
in a brothel owned by a yakuza gang, but managed to escape and get to the
Thai embassy before she was raped." On returning to Thailand, the woman
had to go into hiding after associates of the traffickers tracked her down
and attacked her. She is now a spokesperson for an anti-trafficking programme
in Chiang Mai. Cops found 38 foreign victims of human trafficking in first half of 2006 Activists say many women
voluntarily but illegally enter Japan and are then saddled with exorbitant
debts to their traffickers who enslave them to repay their travel fees. The
trafficking scourge - Japan has
tackled sex trafficking, but challenges remain Urairat Soimee's journey began
with an invitation from a wealthy neighbor -- her mother's childhood friend
-- in her small Thai village to come and work at a restaurant she claimed she
owned in Japan. It ended with her in a
Japanese prison, serving a sentence for murder. Japan
Strengthens Its Efforts on Combating Human Trafficking Thailand was chosen because many
trafficking victims in Japan are Thai women. According to the NPA, 169 of the
397 victims taken into custody between 2001 and 2005 were from Thailand. Most
were duped into heavy debts, then forced to work as bar hostesses or
prostitutes. Japan
may crack down on sex trafficking “They know that they can't go to
the police because they have no visas," she said. "They fear that
if they are spotted coming to the shelter they will be killed, or that their
families back home will be hurt by thugs”. Japanese
Police Report Human Trafficking Victims in First Half of 2005 The number of victims was three times
the tally in the first six months of last year, according to the National
Police Agency report. The
Switzerland-based International Organization for Migration estimates that as
many as 150,000 trafficking victims could be working in NPA
uncovers 29 cases of human trafficking, but report says much more is needed The problem of human trafficking
continues on a wide scale in Japan, according to a report from nongovernmental
organization Japan Network Against Trafficking in Persons (JNATIP). They have been lied to, abused and
trapped in the seedy sex industry where defiance is punishable by gang rapes.
And until recently, these foreign women were viewed as lawbreakers, not
victims. Yet the problem of human
trafficking continues on a wide scale in Thai woman admits selling girl into sex trade A Thai woman in In the popular imagination, human trafficking involves
women who are kidnapped or otherwise tricked into working as prostitutes. But
experts say such cases are rare in Internet
date becomes nightmare A Japanese man allegedly chained a teenage girl with a dog collar for more than three months and repeatedly raped and beat her after meeting her in an internet chat room. Forced
Labor? Male Migrant Workers In Japan
Have It Tough He points out that complaints by male workers sound very similar to those of trafficked women, such as low wages, long and exhausting working hours, and violence from their bosses. The bulk of complaints are over unpaid overtime, sometimes running into years, and injuries in the workplace. The counselor said many of the workers were reluctant to confront their bosses for fear of being deported for violating their tourist visas. Japanese Police Plan Fresh Crackdown On Sex Traffickers 4,000 Colombianas? That's sickening REPORT: JAPAN SEX INDUSTRY ENSNARES LATIN WOMEN - When she arrived she was raped by all three men and sold to a Yakuza organized crime boss, who branded her across the chest with a 6-inch (15-centimeter) rose tattoo. He forced her to provide sexual services to up to 40 clients a day, she said. Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 1 Civil Liberties: 2 Status: Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study Human trafficking:
Asia's persistent tragedy Ai, a Thai woman in her early 30s,
considers herself among the lucky ones. She was rescued by a Catholic nun
after 10 years of virtual sexual slavery in Japan. "It was like hell," Ai said of
her ordeal as a sex worker that began soon after she was trafficked from
Thailand at the age of 15. "I was dead from the first day. After one
year, I started to take drugs."
Not only was she threatened with abuse at the hands of Japan's
notorious yakuza crime syndicate if she disobeyed commands to sleep with
clients, but she was denied her promised salary on grounds that a substantial
slice of it was needed to pay for the cost of her journey from Thailand. "We were told that once our debts are
paid off, we would be sold to someone else," White
Slavery - Trafficking of Asian women Women who were lured into the sex
industry tell horrific stories of gross human-rights abuses once they are in
Japan. Initially promised jobs as waitresses or entertainers, these young
Asian women, usually from poor families, arrive at Japanese airports only to
be met by groups of gangsters. They are then held in bondage, sometimes for
years, for average debts of $30,000.
The women work in slave-like conditions, providing sex to customers on
a daily basis. They are under constant surveillance by their employers and
are beaten regularly. Human
Trafficking For Sexual Exploitation In Japan [PDF] INTRODUCTION - AIM OF THE STUDY - Relatively few studies have
been undertaken on the trafficking of foreign women into Japan. What is available forms only a fragmented
image of the trafficking industry. Much of the available commentary consists
of broad comment, often by mainstream media or interest groups. These reports do not clearly identify
information sources or disaggregate terms and broad-based statistics. The study aims to make a
contribution to understanding of the trafficking of foreign women into Japan
by avoiding generalizations and sourcing data wherever possible. It aims to
add to the body of research in Japan by presenting a clearer profile of human
trafficking: the victims, the abuses they suffer, and the deceptions used by
traffickers. It focuses primarily on the experiences of victims in order to
better understand the push and pull factors of trafficking, providing details
on both the situation in three main countries of origin (Colombia, the
Philippines and Thailand) and the social and legal factors that make Japan a
profitable market in particular for organized crime groups. Japan
tries to erase taint of sex slavery Like most victims of trafficking
in humans, Mia, who wanted to help her family financially, was told by an
acquaintance in Thailand that she could get "a good job" in
Japan. Once in this country, however,
Mia faced something totally unexpected — fictitious debts that she had to
repay by renting her body for sex. She and other foreign women were kept
under rigorous surveillance and never allowed to go out by themselves; they
were shuttled between their apartment and workplaces such as bars and
hotels. "I wanted to be treated
as a human being," Mia told Mrs. Otsu. "I am a human being,"
she said before describing the humiliations she had endured. Even in Tokyo, there are very few
places victims can go for help. Most
private shelters in Japan are financially strapped and operated by volunteers
and private donations. They receive very little money from the government. The usual way Japan deals with victims of
human trafficking is to arrest them for violating immigration laws and deport
them to their homeland. Politicians and the mainstream media have long
ignored this. "It's hard to say
that the seriousness of human-trafficking issues is widely recognized in
Japanese society," said Kaname Tsutsumi, a professor who teaches sex and
ethnicity issues at Kyushu International University. "In addition, the
society casts a very cold eye on foreign women involved in
prostitution." Colombia, Japan to tackle trafficking The Japanese and Colombian governments have agreed on a series of steps aimed at preventing human trafficking and providing support to sex-trade victims. This is Japan's second government-level agreement on human trafficking. The first was reached with the Philippines in September. The officials explained to their Colombian counterparts about Japan's new policy of treating women duped into exploitation as victims to protect. The women will be allowed to stay in shelters for an extended period of time rather than be subject to immediate deportation. Japan put on
sex-trade watch list Japan "has a huge problem
with slavery, particularly sex slavery, a tremendous gap between the size of
the problem and the resources and efforts devoted to addressing the
problem," senior State Department adviser John Miller said Monday. Miller told reporters that he visited
Japan, and "I found only two small shelters, each with eight to 10
beds." He also criticized Japan
for prosecutions that "did not appear to be a great effort" and
said sentences were "relatively light" for people convicted of
"sex tourism" there. Colombian
Hailed as Hero in Fight Against Trafficking in Persons Francisco Sierra, Colombia's
ambassador to Japan, has made it his personal goal to stop this trafficking
in persons that has taken so many women into forced prostitution. For his
efforts, Sierra was recognized by Secretary of State Colin Powell on June 14
as one of six heroes in the fight against an illicit industry that preys upon
society's most vulnerable members. Sierra said the women are told
they will find a better life by working in other countries such as Holland,
Japan, and Spain, but they most often find themselves trapped into working in
brothels to pay off their so-called "transportation" fees; such fees
may total as much as $50,000 to $80,000. Sierra said that the women are
expected to pay their captors roughly $2,000 every ten days or they will be
severely punished. Human
Trafficking Sexual Exploitation "Human traffickers operating
through a loophole in Japan's immigration law have made the country a target
destination for poor workers and landed it on an official blacklist. Women and girls from the Philippines, farm
workers from Indonesia and China and desperate women from the states of the
collapsed Soviet Union are brought to Japan under a visa system wide open to
abuse, lawyers and human rights groups say. Japan’s
Action Plan of Measures to Combat Trafficking in Persons [PDF] The Action Plan clearly states
that victims of trafficking in persons are eligible for protection and calls
for careful response to be made in consideration of the different conditions
of each victim, while giving due thought to the severe mental and physical
situation in which many of victims find themselves. Regarding the penalties
for perpetrators (brokers and employers, etc.), the Action Plan calls for the
criminal law to be amended, reflecting the gravity of the crime, and for
control measures to be further strengthened. The Action Plan also aims to
prevent the trafficking in persons, stepping into the various systems and
structures that may have played a part in making trafficking in persons in
Japan easier. Japan Probing Human Trafficking In RP The deluge of entertainers to Japan
from the Philippines and Thailand has become a serious problem for his
government, he added. Ogawa said many
of these entertainers have unwittingly ended up as prostitutes upon their
arrival in Japan. Ogawa said the
Philippines and Japan must work together to try to solve the problem of human
trafficking as it affects both countries.
The problem can be effectively solved if stopped at its source, he
added. Japan
immigration law promotes human trafficking The Partial Amendment of the
Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act aims to immediately decrease
the number of “illegal foreign residents” in Japan, in reaction to a purported
?deterioration of public security? and rampant human trafficking. The law
could affect at least 31,000 overstaying Filipinos, 82,000 Filipino
entertainers and thousands of Filipinas married to Japanese. The new law has
outlawed their continued stay in Japan, effective Dec. 2, 2004. Thus, most of
the 304,678 Filipinos in Japan may be subjected to the harsh, inhumane
penalties and procedures under the law. These include warrantless arrests,
jail terms, steep fines and deportation. But the law and the crackdown on
undocumented Filipinos in Japan do not address the issue of human
trafficking. It will only raise revenues for the Japanese authorities by
further penalizing Filipino victims of human trafficking. Meanwhile, human
traffickers will go scot-free, continue wreaking havoc on the lives of
foreign residents even as they amass more profits out of the blood and sweat
of migrant workers. Japan plans
to slash visas to Filipinos to curb sex trade Japan plans to slash ten-fold the
number of visas issued to Filipinos as "entertainers" in a bid to
stop sex trafficking, a problem whose scale has put Japan on a US watch list,
a report said Wednesday. Japan would
trim the number of entertainment visas issued to Filipinos from 80,000 to
8,000 a year, according to Kyodo News, which said it obtained a government
action plan against human trafficking. Owed Justice -
Thai Women Trafficked into Debt Bondage in Japan IV. PROFILES - In this chapter, Human Rights
Watch profiles four women who were trafficked from Thailand into servitude in
Japan. Human Rights Watch interviewed numerous women who recounted similar
experiences. POT - It was a big room and four or five other women
going to work in Japan were also kept there. I was surprised to be locked up
because I was not allowed any chance to say goodbye to my family, even over
the phone. I heard the agents talking about the price for each woman being
between 150-160 bai [1.5-1.6 million yen; US$10,000-11,000], but I couldn't
really understand what they were talking about and did not realize that we
were being sold into prostitution. KAEW - Kaew explained that she had understood there
would be some debt for the airplane ticket and other expenses, but she had
never been told how high her debt would be, and she was shocked at the
amount. "The other girls said to me, 'that's a lot of debt and you're old;
you'll never pay it off.' Then I prayed that it would only take six or seven
months to pay it off, and I went with all of the clients I could. . . . The
mama said to me, 'don't let your period come, or you'll never finish paying
your debt.'" So Kaew also took contraceptive pills daily, though she had
been sterilized at age twenty-one, so that she would not menstruate and could
work every day.(7)
She got her mother to send the pills from Thailand, so that she would not
have to buy them from her mama and increase the level of her debt. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use |
Human Trafficking in [Japan Street Children in [Japan] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Japan] [other countries]