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4,000 Colombianas? That's sickening

Report: Japan sex industry ensnares Latin women

Friday, April 29, 2005 Posted: 11:56 PM EDT (0356 GMT)

LIMA, Peru (AP) -- At least 1,700 women from Latin America and the Caribbean are lured each year into sexual slavery in Japan's huge illicit sex industry, according to a new report.

A team of researchers hired by the Organization of American States found that most of the women come from Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico and Peru.

The team of researchers -- led by Phillip Linderman, an expert on loan from the U.S. State Department -- presented the "Rapid Assessment Report" to an international seminar on human trafficking sponsored by Peru's Foreign Ministry on Friday.

The OAS analysis was culled from interviews with presumed victims, Japanese immigration records and crime data.

The 37-page report estimated tens of thousands of undocumented foreign women in Japan, mostly from other Asian countries, are exploited by crime organizations, like Yakuza, Japan's second-largest crime syndicate.

Japan's National Police Agency estimates the sex trade industry there to be worth $83 billion a year

Linderman said governments on both sides of the Pacific paid little attention to the problem until recently.

The Colombian Embassy in Japan stood out, aggressively working to identify and assist the estimated 4,000 Colombians it believes are human trafficking victims.

But Linderman said the figures in his report probably represent only a percentage of trafficking victims, particularly from other Latin American countries like Peru, which is just starting to tackle the issue.

"The ties between Japan and Peru are larger for historical reasons, for migratory reasons, for all kinds of reasons, than they are between Colombia and Japan. And it's our position right now in the preliminary study that there are many more victims here," he told The Associated Press.

He said a typical trafficking scenario is that of Irene Oblitas, a Peruvian who told her story last year to her country's media. She said that in 1998 she boarded a plane with three Japanese businessmen who had promised her a job in a plastics factory.

When she arrived she was raped by all three men and sold to a Yakuza organized crime boss, who branded her across the chest with a 6-inch (15-centimeter) rose tattoo. He forced her to provide sexual services to up to 40 clients a day, she said.

She escaped after eight months with the help of other Peruvian expatriates, according to the Protection Project at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.

"The scenario of Oblitas' case unfortunately seems to be a typical one," Linderman said.

Oblitas' case was not mentioned in the OAS report. Human rights organizations say she later fled to a neighboring South American country, fearing reprisals after she started receiving death threats.

Japan came under mounting international pressure last year after it was downgraded in the U.S. State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report. It became the only industrialized, developed nation to be placed on a special "watch list" of countries on the verge of falling into the report's lowest category, the OAS study noted.

In response "the government of Japan announced a new national plan to combat human trafficking in December 2004," the OAS report continued.

Chieko Tatsumi, of the International Organized Crime Division in Japan's Foreign Ministry, came to Lima to attend the seminar and said her government launched an aggressive public ad campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking.

"I think the Japanese people are paying more attention to these issues," she said.

But she and other Japanese officials disagreed with the OAS report's assertion that sexual trafficking from Latin America and the Caribbean is a much larger problem than the initial figures indicate.

The full study will not be complete until later this year.

By Mario on Apr 30, 2005, 06:12 in Friendly Talkzone.

kernow62 says on Apr 30, 2005, 07:40:

On a related topic I was watching a TV show about slavery in modern times, primarily in Africa and Asia. It claimed that in one year more slaves are sold in Africa than in the entire period we traditionally associate with slavery. Shocking that it still goes on and very sad that just as in the past Africans are selling their fellow Africans.

utopiacowboy says on Apr 30, 2005, 08:21:

Kernow, you need to get with the program here on PBH. George Bush is responsible for slavery in Africa. The Africans have nothing to do with it. It's all America's fault.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

Crazy4Cali says on Apr 30, 2005, 09:48:

Waitaminute According to another thread, it was fat, balding, middle-aged gringos that were responsible for the prostitution crisis and the world-wide opression of women.

Now I hear the Japanese mafia is involved...Now I'm really confused.

caulfield2 says on Apr 30, 2005, 10:06:

It's anyone who tries to buy another person...coming from a position of economic advantage or simply by force, as is often the case with the Japanese and Russian mafias.

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/russia.htm

The problem is in the thousands for Colombianas, but definitely in the ten thousands for Russian and Ukrainian/Eastern European women. In fact, these women are probably more desired than Asian/Latin women because of their "whiteness."

utopiacowboy says on Apr 30, 2005, 11:56:

All this time my wife thinks she is "white". I just can't get up the nerve to tell her she's.....ok, something other than white. Not quite sure what that would be in her case with her fair complexion.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

kernow62 says on Apr 30, 2005, 12:12:

Mine too UTC, she's whiter than me and I'm a Brit!

bufalo says on Apr 30, 2005, 13:04:

I have only met two people in colombia that say they aren´t white.
One was ... like Denzel, the other was a lot lighter, but said that he must have a child with a white woman so that he could improve his race. Just to mess with his head, I said "that would improve your race, but would damage the white race, wouldn´t you rather leave it alone?" The moron actually agreed with me. Not long after he was jailed for selling properties that didn´t belong to him.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

utopiacowboy says on Apr 30, 2005, 13:49:

My wife is clearly Latina with her jet-black hair but she has a pale white complexion which is quite a contrast to her hair. I've only met one other woman like that in my life and she was a New York Jew.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

sandramoreno80 says on Apr 30, 2005, 14:11:

It is not rare to have Colombians with white skin, freckles, red hair, blue/green eyes, and REAL blonde hair. We have to remember some of these characteristics have come from our European descent.

My mum's paternal family are really white, my grandad and all his siblings were fair skinned and haired, and all had blue eyes. They are Colombian. My mum is as white as any English woman born and bred here, with freckles and rosy red cheeks. People believe her as an English person until she opens her mouth. She also has grey coloured eyes.

On those forms that you have to fill in your ethnic origin here in the UK I always put mixed-other, as opposed to mixed black+white, or black or white, or Chinese etc.

Lionheart says on Apr 30, 2005, 14:55:

Gringos have slavery too 1.5 years ago I was indirectly involved in the prosecution and conviction of a gang involved in human trafficking. They were accused of probably bringing over 1000 of young girls and boys over thr border from Mexico within a few years. Around 100 cases could be proven.

The sad thing is that the children were not robbed or taken by force, but the fathers sold them to the slavers for $5000 to $10,000 per child. Fathers from other Central American countries would actually bring their children to South Mexico to sell them there. The 100 enslaved teenagers were tracked down in all of the USA and Canada. The rest could not be found yet. The gang operated out of Dallas, TX.

A friend in Panama told me about a scam in the newspapers there, where young women were sought for as household help in the USA, Canada, Japan, and Europe. While some of the companies are legit, others are criminal gangs selling the young women into slavery. I assume the same ads are run in newspapers in all Latin American countries.

Crazy4Cali says on Apr 30, 2005, 16:11:

Happens in Thailand, too. I read where some of the folks in rural Thailand (I mean, no roads, running-water, or electricity, rural Thailand) sell their daughters into prostitution, as well. In this story, someone was "rescuing" these girls by "buying" them and taking them back to their village. Rather than the warm homecoming you might expect, the parents were actually outraged that their daughter had been returned. (I don't know, but they were probably re-sold.)

While human trafficing and slavery are deplorable, it's also hard for many Westerners to imagine the conditions these people live in and have lived in for generations that would drive them to such desperate actions.

Life is so much simpler when you live in a bubble and only see the world through the Fox News channel.

kernow62 says on Apr 30, 2005, 18:36:

UTC, you haven't been to Ireland? There are loads of white skinned women with jet black hair. Some real beauties too. I used to date one with piercing blue eyes.

utopiacowboy says on Apr 30, 2005, 21:30:

Nope, never been to Ireland. Wow, must be some kind of Iberian thing going on with the pale skin and jet-black hair.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

miamimike says on Apr 30, 2005, 21:42:

Another Big Bust on West Flagler St.last night here in Miami at 107th ave(sweetwater). The Bar's name was "Fiestas" and it was just one of many to have been busted for drug pushing,illegal liquor sales and Prostitution recently . Starting from Downtown Miami on Flagler St. stretching some 100 blocks--these little bars employ many undocumented Ladies from the Carribbean, Central&South America. Hundreds. You needn't leave the US to find this activity. Not to mention all the "Executive Girls"($500 and up) who work the Brickell and Airport Area by Appt. only.I don;t know the breakdown by country but all the Latin countries are represented.

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? ... That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." -- Feb. 28, 2008 --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C.,

Lionheart says on May 1, 2005, 19:47:

good articles on human trafficking OneWorld has a very good selection of articles:

OneWorld on Human Trafficking

Issue 1, April 2005 - Human trafficking affects hundreds of thousands of lives every year, and especially those of young women and girls. Literally enslaved, these victims suffer a physical and emotional toll that is heartbreaking. The good news is that the international community is paying more attention than ever. Learn what governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and concerned citizens are doing to combat trafficking--on the social, economic, educational, and legal fronts.

Editor's Letter Download This Issue [.pdf; 1700 K]

» In-Depth
Human Trafficking 101
Big profits and little risk drive this criminal industry, which sees as many as 2 million women, men, and children trafficked each year.

Crossing Borders
If there is one consensus on human trafficking, it is this: as a cross-border problem, it cannot be solved without international cooperation.

The Work of NGOs
Much of the newfound zeal to combat trafficking has been sparked by the efforts of non-governmental organizations, who are increasingly focusing on prevention, protection, and prosecution--the 3 Ps.

» From the Frontlines
My Story
“From that day on my misery started: he was sending around 50 clients a day, sometimes even more. I did not understand what was happening. I had no right to be sick, I had no right to refuse or choose.�?

Viewpoint: Polaris Project
Governments, corporations, and consumers should all be doing more to stop human trafficking, says the Polaris Project.

Viewpoint: Academy for Educational Development
AED believes that, with positive economic and social development, much can be done to help empower Southeast Asians to continue to combat the causes of human trafficking.

Viewpoint: Project Hope International
Putting a stop to human trafficking requires giving voice to the needs and challenges of ALL trafficked persons, argues Project Hope International, a group with programs in the U.S., Cambodia, and Thailand.

lpdiver says on May 2, 2005, 03:53:

Sandramoreno80 I can agree as to the skin tones as when my wife and I intertwine our hands there is virtually no difference. However, I found blue eyes to be very uncommon on my visits to Bogota and Medellin. The few blue eyes I did see were darker than mine. I did see a few green eyes.

My eyes alone were enough to get me all the female attention I could ever desire. also I consider my hair dark brown and I was always called Rubio. On the return trips when I had been outside and was tanned and sunbleached my wife was never more than a few sreps away...jejeje.

Tony

"cook some rice!"

N2Aquatix says on May 2, 2005, 05:42:

Naturally Brown My colombiana definitely has the year-round, no-sun-necessary tan. There's no mistaking the fact that she is from a tropical region. She's naturally brown and I think it's sexy as hell!!! I'm used to the women here in the states having to lay in a tanning bed several times a week to stay that dark, and then their skin turns to leather! Ouch!!! My girl's skin is as soft and smooth as a baby's butt. ;)

Jay

Mario says on Feb 13, 2007, 18:30:

Mario says on Feb 20, 2007, 08:46:

aztec says on Mar 6, 2007, 06:15:

awc7il !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is this?

Titan says on Mar 6, 2007, 18:53:

Old News... The Yakuza have been at this business for quite a while. This report is nothing new. Too bad these women are exploited under the auspices of good paying jobs overseas. The international community should get a grip on this crisis but, unfortunately it's so widespread.

elmodefoque says on Mar 15, 2007, 06:38:

"My eyes alone were enough to get me all the female attention I could ever desire. also I consider my hair dark brown and I was always called Rubio. On the return trips when I had been outside and was tanned and sunbleached my wife was never more than a few sreps away...jejeje."
Tony

STOP IT, STOP IT!!!!! Tony, you're getting all these middle/wealthy class colombianas here all hot and excited.
where is kat, lisa, cereal and others?
Hey dude, take your ass to south Barranquilla and see how much attention you get. ZERO jijijij

over 5 million colombianos in USA and only 27 barranquilleros, i'm one.Curramba, el mejor vividero del mundo!

aztec says on Mar 15, 2007, 06:40:

ncj12z Here we go again. Take notice monitors!