Sex Trafficking from Thailand to Japan: Human Being or Illegal Goods?

The international sex trafficking market allows traffickers to reap enormous profits from the exploitation of women. Sex trafficking is a complex interplay of several factors, including sexual and economic exploitation, illegal migration, and human rights abuses. Traffickers prey on vulnerable women by promising them high-paying jobs in foreign countries. After being smuggled into a foreign country, many trafficked women find themselves outside the scope of legal protection. This article focuses on sex trafficking between Thailand and Japan, and analyzes existing legal protections for trafficked women in current international and domestic Japanese and Thai law. As sex trafficking objectifies trafficked women as the illegal commodities of the sex trade, the law needs to reconstruct trafficked women as human beings, deserving of both legal and human rights protections in order to effectively combat sex trafficking