World News U.S. blasts Japan over human trafficking

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WASHINGTON (Kyodo) - The United States said June 14 that Japan is not doing enough to fight human trafficking, putting it on a watch list of countries that may soon fall into the worst category.

The U.S. State Department urged Japan to employ all resources and boost efforts to combat the problem, including increasing investigations, prosecutions and convictions of trafficking crimes and providing better assistance to victims.

"Japan is a destination country for Asian, Latin American and Eastern European women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation," the report says. "Japan's trafficking problem is large and Japanese organized crime groups that operate internationally are involved."

The National Police Agency declared in March that only 83 women were trafficked into Japan and forced to work in the sex industry in the whole of 2003, up 28 from the previous year.

Colombian Ambassador to Japan Francisco Sierra claims 4,000 women from his country have been trafficked to Japan for sexual exploitation and other purposes, urging the Japanese government to tackle the problem.

Sierra cited an example in which one person trafficked 400 Colombian women to Japan.

米、人身売買報告で日本を非難

米国務省は14日、人身売買について、日本を最低ランクの部類の手前になる監視リストに挙げ、人身売買への対応が不十分であるとした。

Shukan ST: June 25, 2004

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