Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims

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Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims ( Japanese 人身取引被害者サポートセンターライトハウス Jinshintorihiki higaisha sapōto Senta raitohausu ), until 2014 known as Polaris Project Japan ( ポラリスプロジェクトジャパン porarisu purojekuto japan ) is a Japanese non-governmental organization that is against human trafficking and in particular the associated sexual and labor exploitation in Japan. The organization was founded in August 2004 by Shihoko Fujiwara on the American model as a private organization and converted into an NGO in 2009 .

Starting position

Japan does not have specific anti- trafficking laws . That is why the organization is working with the government with the aim of adopting comprehensive legislation in 2020 that meets international standards. Human trafficking has a long tradition in Japan , particularly in the area of forced prostitution and sex tourism, and awareness of the problem has only recently begun to grow.

One of the main problems since the 1970s has been the trafficking of forced prostitutes from abroad, such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and also Eastern Europe and South America. A rethink on the part of the Japanese government regarding the criminalization of human trafficking did not take place until 2004, when the US government put Japan on the Tier 2 Watch List . The very low number of officially recorded violations in relation to reality is criticized. The media attention led to the adoption of an action plan against human trafficking for the first time. Although there are no specific anti-trafficking laws, the related crimes are prosecuted as violations of anti-prostitution, child protection and / or labor laws.

job

After the establishment of the Japanese Polaris Project in 2004, counseling began in 2005 on urgent human trafficking cases involving foreign women. A year later, an awareness project for the police and other supporters was added. The campaign was supplemented in 2006 with the creation of an advisory brochure. In 2007 the Polaris project began to establish itself through exchange and cooperation with NGOs abroad. Through regular seminars, the use of the media and the education of students, the organization unfolded an increasing broad impact in 2008. After a reorganization in 2009, awareness campaigns about trafficking in Japanese children and women, and about prostitution and child pornography, increased its impact. In 2011 the organization pushed through a hearing in the Japanese Parliament . That hearing led to the first Japanese symposium on the subject in November, to which experts and leaders from other organizations around the world were invited. The symposium was supported by the American Embassy and JNATIP ( 人身 売 買 禁止 ネ ッ ト ワ ー ク , Japan Network Against Trafficking In Persons ).

activities

Lighthouse supports those affected and victims directly and indirectly. To this end, the first hotline and an e-mail service were set up in Japan in 2005, which those affected can contact by telephone and receive advice in Japanese, English and Korean. In addition, suspected cases can be reported and perpetrators can be prosecuted. Between 2005 and 2015, the hotline was used by around 3,000 people, mostly minors and women. In acute emergency situations, temporary admission to a facility is possible where the victims also receive medical help in a protected room.

The organization conducts training courses and awareness-raising campaigns with police and immigration officials, people who are often in contact with victims of human trafficking. This also includes the prefectural administration, the Ministry of Justice and orphanages . The organization continues to reach out to governments, NGOs and representatives of the United Nation beyond Japan's borders to give their cause an appropriate level of urgency. According to its own information, 29,000 people had participated in Lighthouse seminars by 2019.

In February 2015, the organization released a manga comic titled Blue Heart , which summarizes the experiences of trafficked people who have contacted Lighthouse. The manga was crowdfunded and has also been translated into Chinese and English. It is used in schools and by social workers to educate young people about human trafficking.

The first volume of the manga deals with the JK business ( 女子 高 生 joshi kōsei , high school student). What is advertised as a lucrative extra income to meet men for a walk or to talk, turns out to be forced prostitution for underage girls. The manga also deals with the topics of sexual assault on boys and revenge porn , i.e. the posting of images on the Internet by third parties for the purpose of defamation and harassment.

In 2018, the activists were pledged $ 98,410 by the Open Society Foundations to build a network of journalists to document the return / rejection of migrants.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims: Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims. In: ihj.jp. Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims, accessed November 6, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report - Japan. United States Department of State, June 28, 2018, accessed November 6, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Sex-Trafficking - The Polaris Project Japan Responds to Mayor Hashimoto: “You're clueless”. In: japansubculture.com. Japan Subculture Research Center, May 31, 2013, accessed November 13, 2019 .
  4. ^ A b Amanda Jones: Human Trafficking, the Japanese Commercial Sex Industry, and the Yakuza: Recommendations for the Japanese Government. In: Cornell International Affairs Review, Vol 3, No. 2. 2010, accessed on November 13, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Brochure from the organization ECPAT: Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People. ECPAT & The Body Shop, accessed on November 13, 2019 .
  6. ↑ JAPAN (TIER 2) (Extracted from US State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June 2009). In: http://gvnet.com . Retrieved November 13, 2019 .
  7. ↑ a b c Tomohiro Osaki: Nonprofit's manga raises awareness of teen sexual exploitation in Japan. Japantimes, February 22, 2015, accessed November 11, 2019 .
  8. ^ OSF tax refund for 2018 on influencewatch.org, p. 267