Human Trafficking & Debt

This blog was originally posted in 2017 but this story still happens in Cambodia today:

One of our young leaders, a recent high school graduate has started University. She is bright, hardworking and has now begun volunteering at one of the Flame centres teaching English to the young slum-living kids. She is pretty and full of energy with a genuine, kind heart.

So far the story looks good, right?

About 6 weeks ago, she basically decided to take up an amazing job in Japan. The package included the airfare and visa, the monthly salary was said to be US$1500, which is a truckload of money for a 19 year old!

This kind of scheme draws in those who are struggling, the brokers deliberately target rural areas where there are known debts.

Our young leader's mother is supporting the family on her own, as well as looking after their grandmother. Out of desperate need, the mum took a loan from her employer. Now she works full time in a paid job but receives NONE of her salary. It goes directly to her employer to pay the exorbitant interest on the loan, 10% per month. 

With this kind of financial pressure hanging over her family- directly affecting her, with cultural pressures at play, the Japan job is SO tempting. Our young leader is willing to give up her own education and dreams of being an English professor at a university, to make quick cash, with the HOPE that she will be safe and that the job will be real. 

The reality is that all of the associated costs of the trip could become a huge debt held against her, so instead of repaying a debt she creates another one.  There is NO guarantee of a good income or safe working conditions, and once she has left her networks, language and everything familiar behind, she would be voiceless and completely at the mercy of a stranger.

This is THE standard human trafficking lure. 

Poverty is a complex problem and we have learned that there are no easy solutions. We have shared previously that primary education immunises the community against traffickers, and because this young woman is in Flame, she had a safe place to come with her fears and questions about the job opportunity in Japan. This is a timely reminder of the need to practically equip and arm our young people against those who would exploit and take advantage of them.

What other ways can we help this family?

Why does this job offer worry us? Just last week seven Cambodian women were rescued from a restaurant in Japan where they were allegedly forced into sex work.

The women, who are in their 20s, were lured to work at the restaurant in central Honshu in November with promises of high wages by a Japanese owner who arranged visas and airfares for them. Here's the link to the article

Japan has long been a destination for women from Southeast Asia seeking higher wages. Some find themselves forced into sex work or indentured labor.

Last August the Philippines warned its citizens against illegally traveling to Japan in search of work, saying they often risked being trafficked for sex or forced labor.

Washington’s annual report on human trafficking says Japan remains a “destination, source and transit” country for human trafficking despite a recent increase in prosecutions.

Let's keep the ambulance running at the bottom of the cliff... but work hard to build fences at the top.