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The Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation |
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About the Factbook |
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Contents |
Asia
Europe
Oceania
Africa
Middle East
Central America
& the Caribbean
South America
North America |
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| About the Factbook |
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The Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation was compiled from media,
non-governmental organization and government reports. It is an initial effort
to collect facts, statistics and known cases on global sexual exploitation.
Information is organized into four categories:
- Trafficking,
- Prostitution,
- Pornography, and
- Organized and Institutionalized
Sexual Exploitation
and Violence.
Sources were not contacted to verify information. Close examination will reveal
that there are contradictions in information depending on the sources of information
(ex: how many women are in prostitution in Thailand). All statistics are reported
with no attempt to evaluate which numbers are more likely to be accurate. In fact,
the exact numbers in many cases are not known and estimates come from different sources
which use different methods to determine what they report.
We hope these facts will assist people to recognize the harm caused throughout the world
by sexual violence and exploitation and catalyze action against this violence agianst women.
This project was made possible with the support of the College of Arts and Sciences,
University of Rhode Island and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), Norway.
If you use this information in your work, please reference this factbook-- The Factbook on
Global Sexual Exploitation, Donna M. Hughes, Laura Joy Sporcic, Nadine Z. Mendelsohn,
Vanessa Chirgwin, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, 1999.
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Korea
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| TRAFFICKING |
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Korean women are trafficked to Hong Kong for prostitution. (CATW - Asia Pacific,
Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
Men prefer to buy the sexual services of young girls to prevent a variety
of diseases and AIDS transmission. Therefore, younger and younger children
are lured into the sex industry. Some are locked up and forced to engage
in prostitution. Crackdowns have resulted in 120 young people working
for sex shops in Texas Village, Seoul being sent home between October
1996 and October 1997. (Kim Song-ae, " ŒTexas Village¹ may become residential
area," Korean Herald, 27 October 1997)
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| PROSTITUTION |
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Around the U.S. military bases, there are 18,000 registered and 9,000 unregistered
prostitutes. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution
in the Asia Pacific)
Illegal brothels, with name such as "Miari Texas" and "Chonhodong Texas,"
flourish in Seoul, South Korea. The use of the name Texas was influenced
by Western films such as the "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas". ("S.Korea
ŒTexas¹ Brothel Name Irks Pastor," Associated Press, 2 April 1998)
Policy and Law
Women suspected of prostitution can be confined in "rehabilitation
centers" without due process. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women
and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
Official Response and Action
Korean police have been cracking down on prostitution in Texas Village,
Seoul. According to estimates by police, about 1,000 women were engaged
in prostitution in Texas Village, but the figure has been reduced to
200. (Kim Song-ae, " ŒTexas Village¹ may become residential area," Korean
Herald, 27 October 1997)
Sixteen sex shop owners from the Texas Village red-light district of
Seoul were arrested and 78 others apprehended without physical detention.
(Kim Song-ae, " ŒTexas Village¹ may become residential area," Korean
Herald, 27 October 1997)
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ORGANIZED AND INSTITUTIONALIZED
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND VIOLENCE |
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"Comfort Women"
Historians estimate that the Japanese abducted as many as 200,000 Asian
women, most of them Koreans, and forced them into prostitution as "comfort
women" for the Japanese army in WWII. ("South Korean War Slave Activist
Dies," Associated Press, 16 December 1997)
The South Korean government ended its efforts to get compensation from
the Japanese government for the South Korean women forced into sexual
slavery by the Japanese during World War II. The South Korean government
will pay each of the 152 women used as comfort women by the Japanese
military during World War II US$22,700, US$4,700 of which is from victim¹s
rights organizations. (Stephanie Strom, "Korea Won¹t Seek Japanese Reparations
for WWIIs ŒComfort Women¹," New York Times, 22 April 1998)
The hundreds of thousands of Koreans forced into prostitution or labor
for the Japanese military deserve an apology from the Japanese. The
apology should come during President Kim Dae-jung¹s visit to Japan in
October 1998. Japan has apologized several times, but many South Koreans
feel the apologies have fallen short of true remorse. ("S. Korean leader
seeks Japan apology," Associated Press Online, 16 September 1998)
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