Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Japan (Ratification: 1932)

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Trafficking in persons. In its previous direct request the Committee asked the Government to provide information regarding the ongoing work of the Inter-Ministerial Liaison Committee, a task force established in April 2004 to address the problem of trafficking in persons, as well as the results of its review and examination of progress on the implementation of the Action Plan of Measures to Combat Trafficking in Persons, adopted by the task force in December 2004. It also requested the Government to supply information regarding the application of criminal penalties in the 2005 amendments to the Penal Code and other legislation, including difficulties in establishing the level of documentary evidence required for proving a trafficking crime. The Committee further requested statistical information on the number of trafficking prosecutions under the Penal Code that have resulted in the conviction and incarceration of perpetrators. More generally, the Committee expressed the hope that the Government would continue to provide up to date information regarding its overall efforts to address the serious problem of trafficking in persons for the purpose of exploitation.

The Committee notes the Government’s report received on 10 July 2008, which contains information regarding measures taken by the Government in its ongoing efforts to combat trafficking in persons for the purpose of exploitation. The Committee notes the information in the report about the measures being taken by the Government in the areas of prevention and awareness raising, protection of victims, law reform and law enforcement, prosecution of offenders, and cooperation with foreign governments and international organizations. The Committee notes, in particular, the following information:

–      information about the work of the Inter-Ministerial Task Force in reviewing the implementation of the National Action Plan and assessing its effectiveness;

–      statistical information showing an annual increase in the number of trafficking prosecutions, including the imposition in 2005 of prison sentences on six persons out of 75 persons convicted of trafficking in 2005;

–      the recent amendments made to criminal and immigration laws, including the Penal Code, in order to encompass the problem of trafficking by strengthening existing provisions as they relate to trafficking or introducing new provisions;

–      the establishment of mechanisms for the protection of victims, including a network of multi-service public shelters known as Women’s Consulting Offices, and statistics indicating a steadily increasing number of victims receiving assistance from those facilities; and

–      international cooperation between the Japanese National Police Agency and law enforcement agencies of other countries in the investigation and prosecution of traffickers, with the indication that 50 cases of trafficking had been uncovered over the previous three years as a result of this effort.

The Committee hopes that in its next report the Government will continue to provide up to date information concerning ongoing measures taken or envisaged to combat trafficking in persons for the purpose of exploitation, including information regarding the application of criminal penalties in the 2005 amendments to the Penal Code and other relevant provisions.