| Total
Child Labour |
NATIONAL STATISTICS
* For the year 2000, the ILO projects that there will be 0 economically
active children between the ages of 10-14. (ILO, International Labour
Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010,
STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
*
For the year 2000, 1320000 children between 15-19 years were economically
active. (ILO, Yearbook of Labour Statistics, 2001)
*
1,410,000 teenagers between 15-19 years are economically active.
(ILO, Yearbook of Labour Statistics,
1999)
*
In 1995, there were 0 economically active children between the ages
of 10-14. (ILO, International Labour
Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010,
STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* The legal minimum
employment age is 15 and those under 18 may not be employed in dangerous
or harmful jobs. No violations of child labour laws have been reported.
(US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
|
| Child
Slavery |
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Forced or bonded labour does not occur in general, but women are trafficked
to Japan and coerced into prostitution.
(US
Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25
February 2000)
* In recent years
there has been a surge in the smuggling of illegal immigrants from China.
These illegal immigrants often are held in debt-bondage to make them pay
off the smugglers. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
|
| Child
Trafficking |
ADULT STATISTICS
* There are more than 150,000 foreign women in prostitution in Japan, more
than a half are Filipinos and 40% are Thai. (CATW-Asia Pacific, Newsletter
Volume 1.2, Winter 1998)
* There are 60,000-70,000 Filipino dancers in Japan, a third are undocumented.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing Virginia Calvez, "Filipino dancers keep swinging
despite yen", Reuters, 7 July 1998, citing POEA)
* 150,000 Filipino
women have been trafficked into prostitution in Japan. (CATW
Fact Book, citing "Open sale of little girls at Tanbazar brothel", Daily
Star, 2 July 1998, citing BNWLA)
* Every year,
over 100,000 women, mostly Filipinos and Thais, are sexually exploited
in the sex industry all over Japan.
(Committee for a Safe Society, Matsui
Yayori, Eliminating Trafficking in Asian Women, www.alternatives.com)
*
Japan is a destination for trafficking in women from Philippines and Thailand
for purposes of sexual exploitation. Reliable statistics on the number
and origin of women trafficked to the country is unavailable, but according
to the Ministry of Justice 2.5 % of the 15,823 women deported in 1997 were
prostitutes. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
*
80% of labour migration in 1994 was of women workers. Job trainees
in Korea and Japan have disappeared into underground exploitation,
such as prostitution. (CATW-Asia
Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific,
1996)
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Girls are lured from
Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and south China for the sex markets in Thailand
or to be diverted to Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. ("Human
Trafficking: Gangs make Thailand a regional hub", Bangkok Post, 6
September 2000, reprinted in Stop Trafficking Archive, September 2000)
*
Japan is a destination country for women, primarily from Thailand,
the Philippines, and the New Independent States, who are trafficked
for purposes of sexual exploitation. (US
Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)
*
Child prostitution and child pornography exist in Japan. While the
trafficking of women is known to occur, there is no information
about child trafficking. (ECPAT,
CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
*
NGOs and the media report that Indonesian women and girls are trafficked
to Malaysia, Taiwan, and Japan as sex workers.
(US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Malaysian women are trafficked for sexual
purposes mostly to Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, but also
to Japan, Australia, Canada, and the United States. (US
Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25
February 2000)
* The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe(OSCE) issued a
report on trafficking of persons in September, and stated that women
and girls from Colombia are trafficked to North America and Western
Europe. There were also reports of women trafficked to Japan and Spain
in increasing numbers, in recent years. (US
Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25
February 2000)
* Trafficking laws exist but are not enforced. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Supalak Ganjanakhundee, "Migrant workers booming
as Asian economy declines", Kyodo News, 23 September 1998)
* Japan is a destination of trafficked women from Ukraine and Russia. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Global Survival Network, Vladmir Isachenkov, "Soviet
Women Slavery Flourishes", AP, 6 November 1997)
* Women trafficked out from Thailand to Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Australia,
India, Malaysia and Middle East. (CATW
Fact Book, citing European Conference on Trafficking in Women, Trafficking
of Women to the European Union, June 1996)
* To circumvent Japan's laws, which prohibit migrant women from
working as prostitutes, traffickers have increasingly used 'entertainer'
visas to transit women into the country. In 1995, of a total of
22,060 Russians who came to Japan, 4,763 entered as entertainers.
In the last five years, entertainment visas have accounted for approximately
1 in 5 of all visas granted to Russians entering Japan. (Global
Survival Network, Gillian Caldwell et al, Crime & Servitude, 1997)
* Malaysian children are trafficked into Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan
and Australia. (Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Action, The Flesh
Trade Report, 1995-1996)
* Korea ranks 7th
in terms of destination of deployed overseas Filipino workers, closely
following Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Japan. Illegal recruitments allegedly
for work abroad, have historically been exploited to bring women into prostitution
or other forms of sexual exploitation in foreign lands. (CATW-Asia
Pacific, Jean Enriquez, "Filipinos in Prostitution around U.S. Military
Bases in Korea")
|
| Child
Prostitution and
Pornography |
NATIONAL STATISTICS
* According to National Police Agency statistics, 40% of the over 3,000
pornographic Internet sites based in Japan contained images of minors.
In 1998, INTERPOL estimated that 80% of Internet sites with child
pornography originate in Japan. (US
Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25
February 2000)
*
One third of all reported cases of prostitution are teenagers. (CATW
Fact Book, citing "Tokyo cracks down on teenage prostitution 'clubs'",
Reuters, 13 August 1997, citing 1996 National Police Agency Survey)
ADULT
STATISTICS
* Every year,
over 100,000 women, mostly Filipinos and Thais, are sexually exploited
in the sex industry all over Japan. (Committee
for a Safe Society, Matsui Yayori, Eliminating Trafficking in Asian
Women, www.alternatives.com)
*
There are more than 150,000 foreign women in prostitution in Japan, more
than a half are Filipinos and 40% are Thai. (CATW-Asia
Pacific, Newsletter Volume 1.2, Winter 1998)
* 150,000 Filipina women have been trafficked into prostitution in Japan.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing "Open sale of little girls at Tanbazar brothel",
Daily Star, 2 July 1998, citing BNWLA)
* Japan is a destination
for trafficking in women from Philippines and Thailand for purposes of
sexual exploitation. Reliable statistics on the number and origin of women
trafficked to the country is unavailable, but according to the Ministry
of Justice 2.5 % of the 15,823 women deported in 1997 were prostitutes.
(US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* According to the Government White Paper on Youth, there were an
estimated 4,912 prostitutes in 1997. (International Save the Children
Alliance, Children's Rights: Reality or Rhetoric?, 1999)
* 1,000 illegal pornographic tapes are produced in Japan each month - 35
new titles a day. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Mitsuhiro Shimamura and Joseph Coleman, "Pornography
Easy to Find in Japan", AP, August 1997)
* One 'sex zone' in Tokyo, only 0.34 sq. km., has 3,500 sex facilities:
strip theatres, peep shows, 'soaplands,' 'lover's banks,' porno shops,
telephone clubs, karaoke bars, clubs, etc. (CATW-Asia
Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific,
1996)
*
80% of labour migration in Sri Lanka in 1994 was of women workers.
Job trainees in Korea and Japan have disappeared into underground
exploitation, such as prostitution. (CATW-Asia
Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific,
1996)
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
*
The form of child prostitution differs from that found in other
East Asian countries since poverty is not an overriding factor.
Child pornography is a notable problem. It is commonly cited that
80% of available child pornography is produced in Japan. (ECPAT,
CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
*
Girls are lured from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and south China for the sex
markets in Thailand or to be diverted to Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and
Japan. ("Human Trafficking: Gangs make Thailand
a regional hub", Bangkok Post, 6 September 2000, reprinted in Stop Trafficking
Archive, September 2000)
* NGOs and the media report that Indonesian women and girls are trafficked
to Malaysia, Taiwan, and Japan as sex workers. (US
Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25
February 2000)
* Malaysian women are trafficked for sexual purposes mostly to Singapore,
Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, but also to Japan, Australia, Canada,
and the United States. (US
Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25
February 2000)
* In 1998, Japan was the world's biggest producer of child pornography and
the Parliament had recently refused to pass a law banning the production
of child pornography, citing "business reasons." (CATW
Fact Book, citing Poona Antaseeda, "Expert urges global law to end
child pornography on the Internet", Bangkok Post, 3 June 1998, citing
ECPAT)
* Teenage prostitution
is rising. (SPARC Newsletter, March 1997)
*
The sex industry accounts for 1% of the Gross National Product and equals
the defense budget. (CATW-Asia
Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific, 1996)
|
| Children
in Crime |
GENERAL JUVENILE
CRIME STATISTICS
* In 1998 there
were 898,205 reported cases of juvenile crime, representing 42.50%
of all criminal cases. The specific offences were: 116 cases of
murder (8.40% of all
murders), 7,946 cases of serious assault (40.80% of all cases),
982,276 cases of all types of theft (54.80% of all cases), 78,366
cases of aggravated theft (32.50% of all cases), 1,558 cases of
robbery and violent theft (45.50% of all cases), 70,360 cases of
breaking and entering (29.60% of all cases), 13,671 cases of theft
of motor cars (38.10% of all cases), 880,483 cases of other theft
(58.10% of all cases), 3,572 cases of fraud (7.40% of all cases),
162 cases of counterfeit currency offences (43.50% of all cases),
1,635 cases of drug offences (6.50% of all cases)
(INTERPOL, International Crime Statistics
for 1998, citing National
Statistics)
|
| Child
Soldiers |
GOVERNMENT
FORCE STATISTICS
* In 1997 the number
of under-18s recruited was 355, which represented 2.3% of the total annual
intake. In total, there were 1,279 cadets under the age of 18 years in
November 1997. (CSUCS,
Asia Report, July 2000, citing Mission of Japan to the UN, 5 November 1999)
RECRUITMENT LAWS AND REGULATIONS
*
Youth cadets are admitted to the Self Defence Force from the age
of 16 but cannot be deployed. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001)
*
Persons of 18 years of age may be recruited as volunteers for service into
the Self Defence Force. Nevertheless, as an exception, persons between
15 and 16 years old may be recruited as youth cadets in the Self Defence
Forces. (CSUCS,
Asia Report, July 2000, citing Report of Japan to the UN CRC, 5 August
1996)
*
Even in case of an emergency, Self Defence Force (SDF) youth cadets
who have not reached the age of 18 are not allowed to engage in
hostilities." (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001)
* This information
has been confirmed by UNICEF, which has stated that the cadets are
not "mobilised to assume military duties," even though
as pupils in military schools they are considered part of the SDF.
(CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001 citing information provided
by UNICEF, 22/6/99)
*
15 years is the minimum age for enrollment in the Self-Defence Force as
SDF youth cadets for the Ground, Maritime and Air Self Defence Forces.
(CSUCS,
Asia Report, July 2000, citing Mission of Japan to the UN, 5 November 1999)
* Japan claims that
stricto sensu soldiers under 18 years of age are not recruited in Japan.
(CSUCS,
Asia Report, July 2000, citing Mission of Japan to the UN, 5 November 1999)
|
| Domestic
Child Servants |
- |
Other
Hazardous
Child Labour |
- |
|
