JAPAN AND TIP: A NEW NATIONAL PLAN IS IN THE WORKS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 002328 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP: CHRISTINE CHAN-DOWNER E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/07/2019 TAGS: AORC KTIP PGOV PHUM JA SUBJECT: JAPAN AND TIP: A NEW NATIONAL PLAN IS IN THE WORKS REF: TOKYO 2309 TOKYO 00002328 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: DCM: James P. Zumwalt per 1.4 (b, d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Japan's Inter-Ministerial Liaison Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons is formulating a new National Action Plan that is expected to be released early next year. Observations from individuals in attendance at planning meetings paint a mixed picture: some ministries do not appear deeply engaged in anti-TIP efforts reflecting either an insufficient understanding of the problem, or a belief that TIP is not a major problem in Japan. Other Ministries are reported as being "engaged and knowledgeable." NGOs report they are working to try to make the new Action Plan pro-active and based on best practices. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Shoko Fujiwara (NOTE: Protect Source. END NOTE),head of Polaris Japan, a prominent anti-TIP NGO provided Embassy Tokyo with a memo detailing a meeting between NGOs and members of the Inter-Ministerial Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The purpose of the meeting was to gather suggestions from NGOs for revising the National Action Plan for Measures Against Human Trafficking. According to the memo the NGOs made six main proposals for the Action Plan: 1) the government should move beyond the Action Plan and establish a comprehensive anti-trafficking law; 2) shelters should be established specifically designed to deal with the issues that victims of trafficking face, especially rehabilitation; 3) a transparent method of identifying victims of trafficking needs to be established; 4) an age-appropriate curriculum needs to be developed to expand public awareness of trafficking; 4) attention needs to be paid to international marriages and the trainee visa system as possible routes for trafficking; 6) attention needs to be paid to the role that child pornography and prostitution play in increasing the number of minors that are trafficked. ¶3. (C) Fujiwara characterized the meeting as "much more informative and interactive than these kinds of meetings usually are." She added though that, "Although the Cabinet Office, and NPA representatives seemed knowledgeable, most of the representatives from the other ministries seemed ill-prepared and/or not knowledgeable of TIP issues or their own ministries' role in fighting TIP." In addition to the memo, Fujiwara also provided some observations on the visit this summer to Japan of the head of Polaris (a former Ambassador for G/TIP). According to Fujiwara, in a meeting between the former Ambassador and MOFA Foreign Policy Deputy Director General Akihiko Nakajima, the DDG went so far as to say that TIP victims, including those in the Industrial Trainee and Technical Internship Program had only themselves to blame. The DDG even accused some NGOs of engaging in "bad activities" by which he meant they were exaggerating TIP claims to get funding. ¶4. (C) Deputy Director Hiroki Matsui of MOFA's International Organized Crime Division confirmed that Japan was in the process of revising its Action Plan and said it would be made public in January or February of next year. He said it is true that, "some in the government are not convinced TIP is that big of a problem." He added, "the NPA for example, and prosecutors at the MOJ don't see so many TIP cases, and that is why it is not a priority for them." Embassy Political Officer pointed out that the USG has recently funded a number of independent statistical studies to give it a better idea of the true scale of the TIP problem in the United States. Matsui said he would try to find funds for similar studies in Japan but that because some in the government were unhappy with what they considered to be unfair criticisms of Japan's efforts in TIP by the USG, the proposal for such studies "should not be seen as coming from the U.S." Political TOKYO 00002328 002.2 OF 002 officer also suggested that the GOJ set-up a dedicated TIP office to better coordinate the activities of the various ministries. Matsui replied that would not be easy to do because this was the purpose of the Inter-Ministerial Committee, "but," he added, "I am open to the idea of setting up a website where the various ministries can better share information on their activities in the TIP area." ¶5. (C) In a meeting on a different issue, Yoko Hayashi (NOTE: Protect Source. END NOTE),a prominent Japanese Human Rights lawyer and Japan's representative to the U.N Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) mentioned that she was an observer at a recent Cabinet meeting at which the new Justice Minister, Keiko Chiba (whom she characterized as a close friend) asked why there were so few prosecutions for TIP in Japan. The Ministry of Justice official replied, "In fact there are many more prosecutions than the numbers show." The official went on to explain that prosecutors choose the law they feel they are best able to get a conviction with. This often entails convictions for pimping for example, even when trafficking may be involved, because the trafficking case is often much more difficult to prove, even if the victim is willing to help. ¶6. (C) COMMENT: From interviews with GOJ and NGO actors involved in writing the new National Action Plan it is unclear whether these efforts will succeed in formulating a plan that is pro-active and reflects best practices, and most important, a plan containing sufficient resources devoted to victim identification and victim protection. Those involved in writing the plan report three main concerns: 1) the belief amongst some Government of Japan officials that the anti-TIP measures Japan has adopted have been largely effective, and that criticism of Japan in the TIP report is a result of prejudice and/or misreporting; 2) the largely hidden nature of TIP, rendered increasingly so in Japan by government actions since 2004-2005, has made it more difficult to estimate the true scale, resulting in insufficient resources being devoted to combating TIP; 3) Japan's traditional acceptance of its large and influential (economically and politically) entertainment industry resulting in a lack of will to more aggressively deal with TIP. In addition to other recommendations for Japan as found in the annual TIP report, post is encouraging the GOJ to undertake scientifically valid statistical studies of the TIP problem in Japan to provide an objective baseline for determining resource allocations. END COMMENT. ZUMWALT