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 primarily
a destination, and to a lesser extent a transit country for men, women, and
children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. The
majority of identified trafficking victims are foreign women who migrate to
Japan seeking work, but who are deceived or coerced into debt bondage or
sexual servitude. Some migrant workers are reportedly subjected to conditions
of forced labor through a "foreign trainee" program. Women and
children are trafficked to Japan for commercial sexual exploitation from the
People's Republic of China, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe,
Russia, and, to a lesser extent, Latin America. Internal trafficking of
Japanese minor girls and women for sexual exploitation is also a problem.
Over the past year, exploiters of women in Japan's booming sex trade appear
to have modified their methods of controlling victims to limit their
opportunity to escape or seek help. Many female victims will not step forward
to seek help for fear of reprisals by their traffickers, who are usually
members or associates of Japanese organized crime syndicates (the Yakuza).
Japanese men are involved in child sex tourism in Southeast Asia. - U.S. State
Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2007 [full country report] CAUTION:
The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in 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. Japan
Is Limiting The Entry Of All Foreign Entertainers Japanese Police Plan Fresh Crackdown On Sex Traffickers Hot Line
Reaches Out To Women Forced Into Sexual Slavery In Japan After the State Department listed 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," ARCHIVES 2004 Initially
promised jobs as waitresses, young Asian women met at airport by gangsters 2004 The ILO Report: Human Trafficking for Sexual
Exploitation in Japan [PDF] 2004 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. 2004 Japan has thousands of victims
of sexual slavery and is on a new U.S. "watch list” 2004 Without
documentation or means of getting home, the women are forced to work in
brothels 2004 Loophole
in 2004 2004 Japanese
fact-finding team will look into rampant trafficking of people from the 2004 New law & crackdown on undocumented Filipinos do not address
issue of human trafficking 2004 The Impact of International Human Rights Law on Japan [Restricted] 2004 Filipino
children trafficked to nearby 2004 Slash
the number of visas issued to Filipinos as "entertainers" in a bid
to stop sex trafficking 2000 Thai Women Trafficked into Debt Bondage in 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]