Avoid being a victim of human trafficking
Today's article was prompted by ads that again appeared on Facebook about thousands of jobs available for high salaries in Japan. Despite the absence of confirmed official announcements and guidelines about the possible job openings for Japan from the POEA, the ads and recruitment for jobs in Japan continue.
We reiterate strongly the call to all to be vigilant and careful about paying ahead huge amount of money to recruiters who will promise high-paying jobs in Japan. Please be properly informed that only those with work visas are allowed to work in Japan. Those who are interested to work in Japan as domestic workers need "work" visas from the Japanese Embassy. Those on tourist visas or visiting relatives' visa "are not allowed to work" in Japan.
Media reports in Japan have indicated that domestic workers from Japan will be dispatched to Japanese households through Japanese domestic staffing agencies. These Japanese agencies, not Philippine recruitment agencies, are allowed to dispatch or assign foreign domestic workers to Japanese households. So please wait for official, confirmed announcements about the proper procedures and steps for applying for jobs to Japan.
Please be properly informed and warned so that you are protected and so that you do not have to pay any huge amount for nothing. Please do not allow yourself or any family member, relative, friend, or neighbor to be a victim of human trafficking.
Modern slavery, trafficking in persons are other terms used together with human trafficking.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) emphasize 3 distinct elements in the definition of trafficking in persons: 1) the act – this refers to the recruitment, transport, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons; 2) the means – the method used to lure the victim such as threat or use of force, deception, coercion, abduction, fraud, abuse of power or a position of vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits; and, 3) the purpose – clearly for exploitation.
Various forms of trafficking in persons include sexual exploitation, forced labor, bonded labor or debt bondage, domestic servitude, removal of organs, trafficking of children or people with disabilities for forced begging, or children for armed combat or petty crime.
With increasing migrants smuggled into various global destinations, the 2014 Annual UNODC report clarifies that a) smuggling of migrants, while often undertaken in dangerous or degrading conditions, involves consent. Trafficking victims have either never consented or may have initially consented but that consent has been rendered meaningless by the coercive, deceptive or abusive action of the traffickers; b) exploitation – smuggling of victims ends with the migrants' arrival at their destination while trafficked involves the ongoing exploitation of the victim; c) transnationality – smuggling is always transnational, while trafficking may not be as it can take place within a country's borders as well; and, d) source of profits – in smuggling cases, profits are derived from the transportation or facilitation of the illegal entry or stay of a person into another country while in trafficking cases, profits are derived from exploitation.
According to Walk Free Foundation, started by Australian philanthropists, Andrew and Nicola Forrest and their daughter Grace in 2012, over 35 million people around the world are victims of some form of modern slavery.
Core results from the 2014 UNODC report included: 1) 64 percent of convicted traffickers are citizens of the convicting country, 2) about 72 percent of convicted traffickers are men and 28 percent women, 3) 49 percent of detected victims are adult women, and, 4) 33 percent of detected victims are children (12 percent boys and 21 percent girls), which is a five percent increase compared to the 2007-2010 period.
While many policies have been enacted and implemented to fight human trafficking, the same 2014 UNODC report showed that more than 2 billion people are not protected by the United Nations Trafficking in Persons Protocol. More vigorous concerted local, national, and global efforts are still needed to combat this serious global issue of human trafficking. Please protect yourself from being a victim of human trafficking.
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