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The government hosted a national plan of action workshop,
including multiple stakeholders, and began work on a national
plan of action against human traffcking. The government did
not report any efforts to reduce the demand for commercial
sex acts.
JAPAN (Tier 2)
Japan is a destination, source, and transit country for men
and women subjected to forced labor and sex traffcking, and
for children subjected to sex traffcking. Male and female
migrant workers from China, Indonesia, the Philippines,
Vietnam, and other Asian countries are sometimes subject to
conditions of forced labor. Some women and children from
East Asia, Southeast Asia, South America, and, in previous
years, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central America who travel
to Japan for employment or fraudulent marriage are forced into
prostitution. During the reporting period, Japanese nationals,
particularly teenage girls and foreign-born children of Japanese
citizens who acquired nationality, were also subjected to sex
traffcking. In addition, traffckers continued to use fraudulent
marriages between foreign women and Japanese men to
facilitate the entry of these women into Japan for forced
prostitution. Japanese organized crime syndicates (the Yakuza)
are responsible for some traffcking in Japan, both directly
and indirectly. Traffckers strictly control the movements of
victims, using debt bondage, threats of violence or deportation,
blackmail, and other coercive psychological methods to
control victims. Victims of forced prostitution sometimes face
debts upon commencement of their contracts and most are
required to pay employers additional fees for living expenses,
medical care, and other necessities, leaving them predisposed
to debt bondage. Fines for misbehavior are added to victims
original debt, and the process that brothel operators use to
calculate these debts was not transparent. Japan is also a
transit country for persons in traffcking situations traveling
from East Asia to North America. Japanese men continue to
be a signifcant source of demand for child sex tourism in
Southeast Asia, and, to a lesser extent, Mongolia.
The Government of Japan has not offcially recognized the
existence of forced labor within the Industrial Trainee and
Technical Internship Program, a government-run program
designed to foster basic industrial skills and techniques and to
provide opportunities to acquire practical skills and techniques.
However, the government made a number of efforts to address
labor abuses in the program. Media and NGOs continued to
report on abuses in the program, though to a lesser extent
than in previous years, and abuses included debt bondage,
restrictions on movement, unpaid wages and overtime, fraud,
and contracting workers out to different employers elements
which may signal traffcking situations. The majority of
technical interns are Chinese nationals, some of whom pay
fees of up to the equivalent of $1,400 to Chinese labor brokers
or deposits of up to the equivalent of $4,000 prior to their
departure from China; these fees sometimes require aspiring
workers to take out loans or to place liens on their property,
potentially leading to situations of debt bondage. Although
banned since 2010, these fees, deposits, and punishment
contracts continue to be prevalent for Chinese participants in
the program. Reports of trainees having their passports and
other travel documents taken from them and their movements
controlled to prevent escape or communication declined, a
trend that labor activists credited to increased government
scrutiny of these practices.
The Government of Japan does not fully comply with the
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
however, it is making signifcant efforts to do so. During the
year, the Japanese government did not develop or enact anti-
traffcking legislation that would fll key gaps in facilitating
anti-traffcking prosecutions, and the government did not
arrest, prosecute, or convict a single forced labor perpetrator
in 2011. Increased enforcement of labor laws in the foreign
trainee program, however, led to a decline in reported abuses
in the program according to non-governmental sources.
During the year, the government published a manual for
law enforcement and social service providers on protecting
traffcking victims and continued to mandate anti-traffcking
training to law enforcement offcials. While the government
identifed 45 adult female sex traffcking victims and 619
minor victims of child prostitution, it identifed no male
victims for either forced labor or forced prostitution. Protective
services for traffcking victims remained limited, with no
shelters purposed exclusively for traffcking victims in Japan.
While the government made efforts to raise awareness to
prevent traffcking, sources reported that some of the outreach
campaigns the government undertook were ineffective and
did not reach target audiences.
JAPAN TIER RANKING BY YEAR
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Recommendations for Japan: Draft and enact a
comprehensive anti-traffcking law prohibiting all forms of
traffcking and prescribing suffciently stringent penalties
that are commensurate with other serious crimes; signifcantly
increase efforts to investigate and prosecute forced labor cases,
and punish offenders with jail time; increase the enforcement
of bans on deposits, punishment agreements, withholding
of passports, and other practices that contribute to forced
labor in the foreign trainee program; continue to proactively
investigate and, where warranted, punish government
complicity in traffcking or traffcking-related offenses; further
expand and implement formal victim identifcation procedures
to guide offcials in the identifcation of forced labor; continue
to ensure victims are not punished for unlawful acts committed
as a direct result of being in a human traffcking situation;
establish protection policies for all victims of traffcking,
including male victims and victims of forced labor; ensure
that protection services, including medical and legal services,
are fully accessible to victims of traffcking regardless of
income; and aggressively investigate, prosecute, and punish
Japanese nationals who engage in child sex tourism.
Prosecution
The Japanese government continued to make progress
in prosecutions and convictions of forced prostitution of
women and children; however, the government did not
make signifcant progress combating labor traffcking or
traffcking of male victims during the reporting period. Japans
2005 amendment to its criminal code, which prohibits the
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buying and selling of persons, provides a narrow defnition of
traffcking that is not in line with the 2000 UN TIP Protocol,
and it is not clear if the existing legal framework criminalizes
all severe forms of traffcking in persons. These laws prescribe
punishments ranging from one to 10 years imprisonment,
which are suffciently stringent and generally commensurate
with penalties prescribed for other serious crimes. In 2011,
the government reported 25 investigations for offenses related
to sex traffcking that resulted in 20 convictions, 18 of which
carried prison sentences that ranged from 18 months to four
years imprisonment. The government also reported 842
investigations related to child prostitution and reported 470
convictions on charges of child prostitution, 74 of which carried
prison sentences that ranged from less than a year to three years.
Despite indications of forced labor in the Industrial Trainee
and Technical Internship Program, the government reported
one forced labor investigation, and no labor traffcking arrests,
prosecutions, or convictions during the reporting period. The
National Police Agency (NPA), Ministry of Justice, Bureau of
Immigration, and the Public Prosecutors offce continued
to train law enforcement offcers on traffcking investigation
and prosecution techniques. During the reporting period, all
new police offcers, all senior offcials from prefectural police
departments, and all immigration offcers received training on
traffcking investigation and identifcation techniques. Further,
63 prosecutors received specialized training on conducting
traffcking prosecutions.
Most allegations of abuse or forced labor involving workers in
the Trainee and Technical Internship Program were settled out
of court or through administrative or civil hearings, resulting
in penalties which would not be suffciently stringent for cases
involving traffcking offenses, such as forced labor. NGOs
and labor activists report that the increased inspections of
trainee program worksites as well as labor standards seminars
provided to employers participating in the program have been
successful in decreasing the incidence of abuse and forced
labor in the program. The resolution of a civil compensation
case documented in the 2011 TIP Report involving a 31-year-
old Chinese trainee who died due to overwork had not been
resolved by the end of the reporting period.
In addition, while the government took some steps to prevent
government complicity in traffcking offenses, including
prostitution, corruption remains a serious concern in the
large entertainment industry in Japan. The government did
not report investigations, prosecutions, convictions, or jail
sentences against any offcial for traffcking-related complicity
during the reporting period. The government actively
investigated a February 2012 case in which a retired police
chief was arrested in Japan for soliciting child prostitution.
Protection
The Government of Japan demonstrated modest efforts to
protect victims of human traffcking over the last year. The
government increased identifcation of sex traffcking victims
in 2011, identifying 45 adult female victims, compared to
the 43 victims identifed during 2010. One of these victims
had originally entered Japan as a participant in the Industrial
Trainee and Technical Internship Program. The government
has not identifed a forced labor victim in Japan in 18 years,
despite substantial evidence of abuses against workers in the
Industrial Trainee and Technical Internship Program. Japanese
authorities produced and distributed to offcials a manual
entitled, How to Treat Human Traffcking Cases: Measures
Regarding the Identification of Victims. The manuals
focus, however, appears to be primarily on identifying the
immigration status of foreign migrants and their methods
of entering Japan, rather than identifying indicators of non-
consensual exploitation of vulnerable populations. However,
this manual led to the identifcation of traffcking victims
in four prefectures that had never before identifed victims.
The government reported no specifc protection policy or
specialized services for victims of forced labor. Japan has no
dedicated shelters for traffcking victims or clear sheltering
resources for male victims. The government continued to
provide general (not specifc to human traffcking) funding
for Japans 43 Womens Consulting Center shelters (WCCs),
which largely care for Japanese domestic violence victims but
also served 37 foreign traffcking victims during the reporting
period. Due to limitations on these shelters space, language,
and counseling capabilities, WCCs sometimes referred victims
to government subsidized NGO shelters. Victims in WCC
shelters are technically able to leave the facility at will; however,
security concerns are often asserted as the basis for requiring
that facility personnel accompany the victims on outings.
The government covers medical expenses in full for foreign
and domestic victims while they shelter in government-run
facilities; however, according to several organizations and
government offcials, referral to medical and psychological
services for traffcking victims was inconsistent, and some
victims were not referred to or offered these services in 2011.
The government recognized and worked to correct these
disparities, briefng victims prior to their arrival at the shelters,
providing fyers at the shelters, and training WCC staff on
available services.
According to NGOs, many victims refused to seek government
assistance, due both to a fear of government authorities instilled
in them by their traffckers, and, in some instances, fear of
arrest and punishment for unlawful acts victims committed
as a direct result of being traffcked. Some victims were also
reluctant to seek government assistance due to the overall
lack of protective services available to identifed traffcking
victims. Some traffcking victims were successfully identifed
by law enforcement subsequent to arrest or detention. The
government-funded Legal Support Center provided pro bono
legal services to destitute victims of crime, including traffcking
victims, though it was unclear how many traffcking victims,
if any, received government-funded legal services during
the reporting period. The Japanese government identifed
619 victims of child prostitution in the reporting period
and the government juvenile protection agency provided
protection services to these victims. Furthermore, while
authorities reportedly encouraged victims participation in the
investigation and prosecution of their traffckers, victims were
not allowed to work while participating in the investigative
and prosecutorial process. While long-term residency visas are
available to persons identifed as traffcking victims who fear
returning to their home country, only one person has sought
or received this beneft in the past. No traffcking victims were
granted long-term residency visas during the reporting period.
Prevention
The Japanese government made limited efforts to prevent
traffcking in persons during the reporting period. The National
Police Agency (NPA) and the Immigration Bureau updated
and expanded multilingual emergency contact information
for potential victims of traffcking. While the government
distributed handbills with multilingual emergency contact
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information for potential victims of traffcking at local
immigration offces and to governments of source countries,
NGOs reported that many of these publicity efforts had
little impact and failed to engage their intended audiences.
The Immigration Bureau continued to conduct an online
campaign to raise awareness of traffcking and used fyers to
encourage local immigration offces to be alert for indications
of traffcking.
For years, Japan has served as a source of demand for child
sex tourism. Japanese men have traveled to and engaged in
the commercial sexual exploitation of children in other Asian
countries particularly Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, the
Philippines, and, to a lesser extent, Mongolia. During the
reporting period, one person was convicted under a Japanese
law that allows nationals to be tried in Japanese courts for
engaging in sex with minors or producing child pornography
overseas. Japan is not a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol,
the only G-8 country that remains a non-party.
JORDAN (Tier 2)
Jordan is a destination and transit country for adults and
children subjected to forced labor and, to a lesser extent,
sex traffcking. Women from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the
Philippines voluntarily migrate to Jordan for employment
as domestic workers; some are subjected to conditions of
forced labor after arrival, including through such practices as
unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on movement,
nonpayment of wages, threats of imprisonment, and physical
or sexual abuse. Jordans sponsorship system binds foreign
workers to their designated employers without adequate access
to legal recourse when they face abuse and without the ability
to switch employers, thereby placing a signifcant amount of
power in the hands of employers and recruitment agencies.
Migrant workers are further rendered vulnerable to forced
labor due to indebtedness to recruiters, negative societal
attitudes toward foreign workers, and legal requirements that
foreign workers rely on employers to renew their work and
residency permits.
Chinese, Taiwanese, Bangladeshi, Indian, Sri Lankan, Nepali,
and Vietnamese men and women, in addition to an increasing
number of Burmese and Malagasy workers, continue to migrate
for work in factories in Jordans garment industry. Some
of these workers encounter conditions indicative of forced
labor, including unlawful withholding of passports, delayed
payment of wages, forced overtime, and verbal and physical
abuse; female factory workers are also vulnerable to sexual
harassment. Egyptian migrant workers may experience forced
labor in the construction and building maintenance sectors,
while Egyptians and, to a lesser extent, Syrian workers also
face conditions of forced labor in the agricultural sector.
Over the last year, violence in Syria has caused thousands
of Syrians, as well as third country nationals living in Syria,
to fee to neighboring countries, including Jordan; some
of these migrants, which could include traffcking victims,
may be further susceptible to situations of forced labor or
forced prostitution in Jordan. Moroccan, Tunisian, and
Eastern European women are subjected to forced prostitution
after migrating to Jordan to work in restaurants and night
clubs; moreover, some out-of-status Indonesian, Filipina,
and Sri Lankan domestic workers are reportedly forced into
prostitution. NGO reporting suggests that some Egyptian
women receive marriage offers from Jordanian men as
second wives, but are then subjected to conditions of forced
labor. Small numbers of Jordanian adults are subjected to
forced labor as low-skilled workers in Qatar and Kuwait,
while Jordanian children employed within the country
as mechanics, agricultural laborers, and beggars may be
exploited in situations of forced labor. Some Jordanian girls
are forced to drop out of school to perform domestic service
under conditions of forced labor; these homebound girls
are confned to the home and denied their constitutionally
protected right to complete their education.
The Government of Jordan does not fully comply with the
minimum standards for the elimination of traffcking; however,
it is making signifcant efforts to do so. During the year,
the government sustained law enforcement efforts against
traffcking offenders and police continued to refer traffcking
victims to shelter services. The governments anti-traffcking
efforts, however, continued to be hindered by several
government reshuffes, limited capacity in key ministries, and a
general lack of inter-ministerial coordination and cooperation.
The government accomplished little to implement its national
anti-traffcking action plan; however, the cabinet approved
by-laws to establish a shelter for victims of traffcking in
March 2012. It also failed to enforce consistently its bylaws
that provide standards for employing domestic workers and
operating recruitment agencies, and did not launch an anti-
traffcking public awareness campaign.
JORDAN TIER RANKING BY YEAR
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Recommendations for Jordan: Using the anti-traffcking
statute, increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, convict, and
sentence traffcking offenses; strengthen efforts to proactively
identify victims of forced labor and forced prostitution and
continue to implement the National Screening Team; amend
the forced labor statute to increase prescribed penalties for
forced labor offenses; implement an awareness campaign to
educate the general public and foreign migrant workers in all
sectors on human traffcking, particularly forced labor and
the proper treatment of domestic workers under Jordanian
law; issue regulations governing work in the agricultural
sector; enhance protective services for traffcking victims to
include the availability of adequate shelter; ensure identifed
victims are not punished for unlawful acts committed as a
direct result of their being traffcked; ensure that identifed
traffcking victims are promptly referred by law enforcement,
social services, and labor offcials to protection services using
a standardized procedure; and, where appropriate, increase
bilateral partnerships and systematic information sharing
with governments of source countries to better protect migrant
workers from abuse and resolve cases of alleged exploitation.
Prosecution
The Government of Jordan made some efforts in responding to
Jordans human traffcking problem through law enforcement
means, yet police offcials did not always view withholding
passports and nonpayment of wages as indicators of human