Human Trafficking in [Japan Street Children in [Japan] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Japan] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early
years of the 21st Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Japan.htm
Japan is one of several
destinations and transit countries to which men, women, and children are
trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual
exploitation … Most officially identified trafficking victims are foreign
women who migrate willingly to Japan seeking work, but are later subjected to
debts of up to $50,000 that make them vulnerable to trafficking for sexual
exploitation or labor exploitation. A significant number of Japanese women
and girls have also been reported as sex trafficking victims. During the last
year, a number of Paraguayan children were trafficked to Japan for the purpose
of forced labor. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June,
2009 [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 Suvendrini Kakuchi,
Inter Press Service IPS, www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/GF09Dh02.html [accessed 16 February 2011] "While the problems of human trafficking
focuses on women forced into sexual slavery in Japan, there are many cases of
coerced male labor in the country, a situation that still goes ignored and
needs urgent attention," said Tomoyuki
Yamaguchi, a counselor at the Asian Peoples' Friendship, a non-governmental
organization (NGO) supporting migrant workers. 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 Brian Kaper, The www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2004/June/20040616130952MBrepaK0.8762171.html [accessed 16 February 2011] Francisco Sierra, 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 Chie Matsumoto, Asian Sex Gazette, April 30, 2005 www.asiansexgazette.com/asg/japan/japan04news19.htm [accessed 16 February 2011] After the State Department listed Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61610.htm [accessed 16 February 2011] 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. Anita Lienert, Correspondent,
Edmunds Inside Line, [accessed 16 February 2011] The National Labor Committee on
Wednesday issued a 65-page report, "The Toyota You Don't Know,"
which accuses the Japanese automaker of using "low-wage temps" to
build the popular Toyota Prius. The report also
alleged that Toyota has "ties to Burmese dictators" through the Toyota
Tsusho Corporation. "Toyota's much admired 'Just in Time' auto parts
supply chain is riddled with sweatshop abuse, including the trafficking of
foreign guest workers, mostly from China and Vietnam to Japan, who are
stripped of their passports and often forced to work — including at
subcontract plants supplying Toyota — 16 hours a day, seven days a week,
while being paid less than half the legal minimum wage," the group said
in a statement. The Protection Project - The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/japan.doc [accessed 2009] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Trafficking in women into the
Japanese sex industry first received attention in the late 1970s and early
1980s, when Filipino women began migrating to www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/147209-Japan-Arrests-Thai-Human-Trafficki/ [accessed 16 February 2011] 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 humantrafficking.org, June 04, 2007 -- Adapted from:
"Trading in People: To ensure adults and children trafficked in www.humantrafficking.org/updates/653 [accessed 16 February 2011] "For example, a Chiang Mai
woman in her thirties was lured to Cops found 38 foreign victims of human trafficking in
first half of 2006 29 August 2006 -- Source:
mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20060829p2a00m0na031000c.html [accessed 16 February 2011] Activists say many women
voluntarily but illegally enter The trafficking scourge - Steve Silver, The search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20060815zg.html [accessed 16 February 2011] 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 humantrafficking.org, August 2006 -- Adapted from:
‘Slamming the brakes on human trafficking.’ Asahi Shimbun,
9 June 2006 www.humantrafficking.org/updates/392 [accessed 16 February 2011] United Press International UPI, whatsakyer.mu.nu/archives/130488.php [accessed 16 February 2011] “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 Associated Press Newswires. 14 July 2005 www.humantrafficking.org/updates/43 [accessed 16 February 2011] 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 14 July 2005 -- Source:
www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507140336.html [accessed 16 February 2011] The problem of human trafficking
continues on a wide scale in 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 The search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20050705a2.html [accessed 16 February 2011] A Thai woman in Associated Press AP, March 18, 2005 www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Focus/GC18Dh02.html [accessed 16 February 2011] 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 South African Press Association SAPA, www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Internet-date-becomes-nightmare-20050512 [accessed 16 February 2011] 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 Suvendrini Kakuchi,
Inter Press Service IPS, www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/GF09Dh02.html [accessed 16 February 2011] "While the problems of human
trafficking focuses on women forced into sexual slavery in Japan, there are
many cases of coerced male labor in the country, a situation that still goes
ignored and needs urgent attention," said Tomoyuki
Yamaguchi, a counselor at the Asian Peoples' Friendship, a non-governmental
organization (NGO) supporting migrant workers. 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. Human Traffickers Sol Jose Vanzi, Philstar Editorial, www.newsflash.org/2004/02/ht/ht005052.htm [accessed 16 February 2011] Japanese Police Plan Fresh Crackdown On Sex Traffickers Asian Sex Gazette, www.asiansexgazette.com/asg/japan/japan03news17.htm [accessed 16 February 2011] REPORT: Cable News Network CNN, www.japanaddicted.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1333 [accessed 16 February 2011] 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 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=363&year=2009&country=7633 [accessed 16 February 2011] Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide Human Rights Watch [accessed 16 February 2011] Library of Congress Call Number DS806 .J223 1992 lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/jptoc.html [accessed 16 February 2011] Human trafficking: Marwaan Macan-Markar,
Inter Press Service IPS, www.atimes.com/atimes/Asian_Economy/DJ10Dk01.html [accessed 16 February 2011] 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 Suvendrini Kakuchi,
The Foreign Correspondents Club of At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 September 2011] Women who were lured into the sex
industry tell horrific stories of gross human-rights abuses once they are in Human Trafficking For Sexual Exploitation In International Labour Organisation ILO, Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour (SAP-FL) www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/tokyo/downloads/r-japantrafficking.pdf [accessed 16 February 2011] INTRODUCTION - AIM OF THE STUDY - Relatively few studies have
been undertaken on the trafficking of foreign women into 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. Takehiko Kambayashi,
The At one time this article had been archived and may possibly
still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 September 2011] Like most victims of trafficking
in humans, Mia, who wanted to help her family financially, was told by an
acquaintance in 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." The Asahi Shimbun --
International Herald Tribune IHT/Asahi, January 19,2005 www.asahi.com/english/nation/TKY200501190138.html [accessed 16 February 2011] 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. CNN Producer Paul Courson
contributed to this story, Cable News Network CNN, www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/14/trafficking.report/ [accessed 16 February 2011] Colombian Hailed as Hero in Fight Against Trafficking in
Persons Brian Kaper, The www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2004/June/20040616130952MBrepaK0.8762171.html [accessed 16 February 2011] Francisco Sierra, 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. Deborah Cameron, Sydney Morning Herald SMH, [accessed 16 February 2011] At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly also be accessible [here]
"Human traffickers operating
through a loophole in Japan’s Action Plan of Measures to Combat Trafficking in
Persons [PDF] December 7, 2004 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 7 September 2011] 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. Sol Jose Vanzi, STAR, Philippine
Headline News Online, September 9 , 2004 www.newsflash.org/2004/02/hl/hl100991.htm [accessed 16 February 2011] The deluge of entertainers to Inquirer News Service -- Published on page A14 of the January
5, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 September 2011] 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. Agence At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 7 September 2011] 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 Human Rights Watch, ISBN 1-56432-252-1, Library of
Congress Card Number: 00-107963 , September 2000 www.hrw.org/reports/2000/japan/4-profiles.htm [accessed 16 February 2011] IV. PROFILES - In this chapter, Human Rights
Watch profiles four women who were trafficked from 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. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking
& Modern-day Slavery - |
Human Trafficking in [Japan Street Children in [Japan] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Japan] [other countries]