JAPANESE POLICE SHOWCASE TIP EFFORTS, (BUT BEHIND

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 000305 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/08/2019 TAGS: KTIP PHUM JP SUBJECT: JAPANESE POLICE SHOWCASE TIP EFFORTS, (BUT BEHIND THE SCENES SOME SMELL A KURATA) Classified By: Classified by CDA J. P. Zumwalt for reasons 1.4b, d. ¶1. (C) Summary: Eager to showcase its anti-TIP efforts, the NPA (National Police Agency) recently hosted two TIP-related symposia, including the "5th Contact Point Meeting for Trafficking in Persons in Japan." Significantly, for the first time, Embassy Tokyo was invited to elaborate on U.S. anti-TIP efforts. End Summary. ¶2. (C) In recent months the NPA has hosted two large symposia to showcase its anti-TIP efforts and educate its officers. On October 30, it hosted "The 7th Seminar on Combating the Commercial and Sexual Exploitation of Children in Southeast Asia." Participants included the IOM's Japan representative, high-ranking police officers leading anti-TIP efforts from Indonesia and the Philippines, and a representative from Save the Children. This symposium was followed by "The 5th Contact Point Meeting for Trafficking in Persons in Japan," held December 16, at which the NPA, the IOM, Japan UNICEF, and a representative from Embassy Tokyo detailed their respective anti-TIP efforts. ¶3. (C) At both symposia, Haruhisa Goto, Superintendent of the NPA's Consumer and Environmental Protection Division, Community Safety Bureau, which spearheads the NPA's anti-TIP efforts, described a case in which the NPA rescued two trafficking victims from a rural location in Chiba Prefecture within a few hours of receiving a frantic call from the parents of the victims in Macao. ¶4. (C) At the Contact Group meeting, Naoko Hashimoto, the IOM's Program Coordinator in Japan, praised the cooperation of the police in working with the IOM to screen potential trafficking victims. She noted there were a few areas where she felt there was room for improvement. These included a need for a 24 hour multilingual hotline, better cooperation between public and private shelters, some means for protecting male victims, some way of assisting victims who cannot or do not want to return, more tangible benefits for victims who cooperate with prosecutors, and making sure that the principle of "informed consent" is enforced. ZUMWALT