Japan urged by US to combat sex slavery

BBC News : Japan urged to combat sex slavery

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Japan has pledged to increase efforts to stop human trafficking after a US State Department report criticised its record on preventing sexual slavery.
The report placed Japan on a "watch list" of countries with poor human rights records, such as Laos and India.

Thousands of women and children arrive in Japan each year from across Asia and eastern Europe, many of whom are sold into prostitution by criminal gangs.

A Japanese government spokesman said stopping the trade is "an urgent duty."

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Japan has no comprehensive law against human trafficking, and powerful criminal gangs, known as yakuza, operate an international trade in human slavery.

Last year Japan's National Police Agency arrested 41 people for trafficking-related offences, eight of whom were traffickers, the US report said.

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i saw a news report on sex-trafficking once that focused on children sold for sex. it's a hard crime to crack down on, because so many people come form all over the world to frequent some of these places that it's a major source of income for the pimps, and in some countries the local police even get in on it.