National Women’s Education Center of Japan

During 2 days International Forum, Poster Session on “Violence against Women” was held at the Hall of Auditorium Building of NWEC. Education materials and posters exhibited were brought from the participants of 2008 Asia Pacific Women Leaders Empowerment Seminar which was held on November 2008.

As well as posters, many participants watched education panels on human trafficking which was produced as a part of NWEC Human Trafficking Research Project in 2007.

Fair trade exhibits opened during break, forum participants enjoy coffee and cookies produced in the developing countries and strengthen the network with each other.

After the break, 3 session meetings each began with the presentation by the experts current situation and the latest measures taken in different countries. Based on these reports, active discussion were held among the experts, foreign-citizenship women living in japan, women’s center staffs and those involved in education.

Session Meeting I Issue of Rescue and Protection
Discuss necessary measures to deploy immediate and safe access to rescue, reaching out to all the potential victims of trafficking.

Discussion of Session Meeting I, facilitated by Ms. Yoko Yoshida, Lawyer and Co-chair of JNATIP, was vigorously done on whether victims can be protected or not, the service provided is proper or not, based on the report from Government, International Organizations and NGOs on the current situation of TIP victim.

One of the most difficult challenges was the obstacles to access rescue and protection services. Various efforts in foreign countries such as setting up hotline, putting leaflets or stickers in the necessary places were introduced.
However, those attending the meeting pointed out the complicated method of trafficking made it harder to define TIP victims and the needs for the personnel in charge of identifying victims who have the knowledge of rescue and protection.
It was underlined that the important point in eradicating TIP is to rescue and protect all the potential victims including those in the “grey zone”.
Besides these, importance of providing protectional services with understanding for victims’ cultural backgrounds including languages because of the miscommunication problems in shelters was pointed out.

List of Experts

Mr. Takayuki Sakai, Specialist for Protection of Women,
Office of Fatherless Family Assistance, Needy Family Welfare Division, Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare

Ms. Naoko Hashimoto, Program Coordinator, IOM

Ms. Tomiko Takashina, Senior Officer,
Chiba Prefectural Support Center for Women,

Ms. Keiko Ohtsu, Former Director, House in Emergency of Love and Peace
(HELP), Co-chair, JNATIP

Ms. Virgie Ishihara, Director, Filipino Migrant Center (FMC)

Ms. Yuriko Hara, Director General, International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism Japan Committee (IMADR-JC)
Steering Committee member, JNATIP

Ms. Vittoria Luda di Cortemiglia, Focal Point on Human Trafficking and
Program Coordinator, Counter Human Trafficking and Emerging Crimes Unit, UNICRI

Facilitator: Ms. Yoko Yoshida, Lawyer, Co-chair, JNATIP

Session Meeting II Rehabilitation and Empowerment
Discuss measures necessary to realize long-term recovery from the damages of violence, self-supporting life and recovery, and children and other issues.

In Session Meeting II, facilitated by Prof. Hiroko Hashimoto, from the Jumonji University, panelists from Thai Government, NGOs from the Philippines, Thailand and Japan and shelter in Japan reported their activities. SEPOM in Thailand and DAWN in the Philippines are the organizations cooperating with the research by NWEC.
Based on these reports, discussion focused on the methods and challenges for victims and their children to recover mentally and economically.

It was strongly emphasized that the importance of providing support from victim’s perspective and strengthening network among NGOs, International Organizations, Central and Local Governments and the experts on the issue. Needs of conducting appropriate survey and research to make policies reaching the victims was also raised.

Report of Thai-Japanese Children (TJC) and Japanese Filipino Children (JFC) showed the difficulties of providing support to these victims and children. For example, TJC who had initial education in Japan faced adjustment problem after returning Thailand; On the other hand , there were cases of JFC who was able to meet their Japanese father and received financial support to go on to college.
In order to support their children and families, some TIP victims have to return to Japan to work again. They suffer deep mental damage and it is difficult to provide them support.
It was pointed out that long-term support by the government is very difficult because public services are provided on limited term basis.

Remaining challenges includes how to facilitate communities and families to accept TIP victims, how to strengthen international network among central and local governments, NGOs, International Organizations and individual experts including the media to play an important role in giving a true picture of trafficking.
Finally, a proposal was made that establishing new network including media was necessary to eradicate the human trafficking.

List of Experts ( *presentation) :

Ms. Ladda Kangwannavakul, Education Technical Officer, Informal Education section, Chiang Rai City Municipal Office
Committee member of Self Empowerment Program of Migrant Women (SEPOM)
Ms. Mari Nyota, Former Director General, SEPOM

Prof. Mitsuko Horiuchi, Professor, Bunkyo Gakuin University Graduate School
Director, Child Labour Network

Ms. Carmelita Gopez Nuqui, President and Executive Director, DAWN

Ms. Noriko Toriumi, Social Worker, Friendship Asia House (FAH) Cosmos
Ms.Yanee Lertkrai, Director, Bureau of Anti-Trafficking in Women and Children, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security

Prof. Yuriko Saito, Assistant Professor, Keisen University,
Steering Committee Member, JNATIP

Facilitator: Prof. Hiroko Hashimoto, Professor, Jumonji University

Will look at current best practices of preventive education・awareness raising measures to stop the issue of “demand”.

List of Experts
*Demand Reduction Approach and its Difficulties
Dr. Kimio Ito, Professor, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University

*Activity in University
Prof. Nami Ohtsuki, Associate Professor, University of the Sacred Heart Tokyo

*Involvement of Youth
Ms. Shihoko Fujiwara, Director, Polaris Japan

*Anti-trafficking Activity of Women’s Center
Ms. Teruko Ohno, President, Japan Association for Women’s Education

*Demand in the Philippines and Importance of Education
Dr. Maria Rosario Ballescas, Professor, Social Sciences Division,
Visayas Cebu College, University of the Philippines

*Support and Outreach Activity by Migrant Social Worker in Japan
Mr. Frank Ocampos, Counselor, Child and Family Support Center, Family Center Viola

Facilitator: Miho Watanabe, Researcher, NWEC