Los Angeloser
Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Location: Korea
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 Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 10:29 pm Post subject: Labor and Sex Trafficking Report 2011 S Korea |
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Sounds like almost all of what Korean media already reported was used for this 2011 report.
Is there a need to change(improve) laws since S.Korea is already �Tier 1'?
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/192596.pdf
"Some foreign women who entered the country on E-6 entertainment visas were forced into prostitution.
Some women from less developed countries recruited for marriage with South Korean men through international marriage brokers are subjected to forced prostitution or forced labor subsequent to their arrival in the ROK, or when running away from abusive spouses.
South Korean women were subjected to forced prostitution domestically and abroad in destinations including the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia, many coerced by traffickers to whom they owed debts.
Commercial sexual exploitation of South Korean teenagers within the country remains a problem.
Migrant workers who travel to the ROK for employment may incur thousands of dollars in debts, contributing to their vulnerability to debt bondage.
Migrant workers sometimes face conditions indicative of forced labor, including nonpayment of wages, withholding of passports, and work upon arrival in the ROK that differs from the job description offered to them in their country of origin.
The government did not institute formal procedures to identify proactively trafficking victims and refer them to available services.
More centers provide services for female than for male trafficking victims.
Recommendations for the Republic of Korea:
Enact drafted comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation that defines and prohibits trafficking in persons; increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict trafficking offenders, including those involved in labor trafficking; develop and implement formal victim identification procedures to identify proactively trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, including women arrested for prostitution, migrants in the EPS, and illegal immigrants; make greater efforts to identify victims of forced labor among migrant workers, such as those who file complaints of unpaid wages; conduct a study or regular surveys to explore the scope and manifestations of labor trafficking in South Korea, similar to the triennial survey on sex trafficking; proactively grant victims permission to work pending investigations and prosecutions against their traffickers; and take steps to increase awareness of child sex tourism and enforce laws against South Koreans engaging in such acts.
P r o s e c u t i o n:
The ROK government took adequate steps to prosecute trafficking offenses during the reporting period, but its efforts continued to be hampered by the lack of a clear law prohibiting all forms of trafficking.
The Republic of Korea does not have a comprehensive trafficking law that fully complies with international norms.
During the reporting period, government authorities reported investigating 53 sex-trafficking cases, compared with 40 during the previous reporting period, under the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic. These investigations resulted in a total of 11 convictions, an increase from six convictions under this statute during the previous reporting period.
Sentences for sex trafficking offenders ranged from 16 months to five years. Because there is no comprehensive anti-trafficking law in South Korea, disaggregating data as to whether the convictions were, in fact, trafficking convictions is difficult.
Since April 2011, there were allegations of forced labor abuses and unpaid and underpayment of wages on South Korean-lagged fishing vessels in New Zealand waters. At the end of the reporting period, these allegations remained under investigation.
The government�s National Human Rights Commission launched an investigation into allegations of forced labor on these South Korean lagged fishing vessels.
Despite conducting 34 labor trafficking investigations and obtaining eight indictments in the past year, the government did not report any labor trafficking convictions under the Labor Standards Act or any other statutes for several years, raising concerns that the current legal structure for addressing labor trafficking is insufficient.
In June 2012, Korean authorities asserted that a number of labor trafficking offenders were prosecuted during the reporting period; these claims could not be confirmed.
In addition, there have been no convictions of Korean child sex tourists or labor trafficking offenders in the past five years.
P r o t e c t i o n:
The ROK government sustained strong efforts to protect trafficking victims during the reporting period, but it lacks formal proactive victim identification procedures.
There were fewer services available for labor trafficking victims than sex trafficking victims. The government identified 15 forced prostitution victims; it is unclear how many labor trafficking victims were identified.
The government did not have a formal mechanism to guide front-line responders, such as police, social workers, and labor and health officials, in how to identify human trafficking and refer potential victims to available services.
The government also sustained its operation of one specialized shelter for foreign victims of sex trafficking, but it did not report the number of victims assisted at this facility during the reporting period.
The government did not operate specific programs for forced labor victims or shelters for male trafficking victims. Observers claimed that the EPS continued to assign excessive power to employers over workers� mobility and legal status, making them vulnerable to trafficking.
In an effort to reduce demand for commercial sex acts, the Ministry of Justice continued to run 39 �Johns Schools,� requiring convicted male clients of prostitution to attend one day seminars on the risks of prostitution and sex trafficking in lieu of criminal punishment.
Korean men remain a source of demand for child sex tourism in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.
The government has not reported any prosecutions or convictions of child sex tourists in the past five years." |
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