Brian Small<p></p><blockquote><span>.> The government continued to implement the 2016 Act on Proper Technical Intern Training and Protection of Technical Intern Trainees (TITP reform law). The TITP reform law mandated the MHLW approve work plans outlining living conditions, working hours, and other factors developed jointly by incoming TITP participants and their employers... However, authorities did not fully implement oversight procedures to ensure unity among sending and receiving organizations’ contracts nor among these contracts and the participants’ work plans, resulting in discrepant language that left many participants vulnerable to labor abuses, including forced labor... </span></blockquote><blockquote><span>.> The government continued to implement its “Special Skilled Worker” visa program—established in 2018—that allowed 15,663 foreign workers to enter Japan in 2020 and fill positions in construction, shipbuilding, nursing care, and 10 other sectors with known labor shortages over a five-year period. Although there were no reported cases of forced labor within this system in 2020, observers continued to express concern that it would engender the same vulnerabilities to labor abuses, including forced labor, as those inherent to the TITP and that the government’s oversight measures were similarly lacking....</span></blockquote><blockquote><span>.> The government maintained memoranda of cooperation (MOC) pertaining to the TITP with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam as sending countries of TITP participants. MOCs remained the Japanese government’s primary tool to regulate recruitment practices, but they remained largely ineffective because the government failed to hold the governments of the sending countries accountable for abusive labor practices and forced labor crimes by recruiters and sending organizations.... some sending organizations in these countries circumvented the fee restrictions and secured their respective governments’ approval by charging high “commissions” in lieu of fees; trainees from these countries therefore remained at risk for debt bondage once in Japan. This was especially true for Vietnamese participants, who constituted the highest proportion of TITP trainees. Some Japanese TITP employers forced participants to remit portions of their salaries into mandatory savings accounts as a means to prevent their abscondment and retain their labor.</span></blockquote><span> - </span><a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/japan/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/japan/</a><span><br> - 日本語 </span><a href="https://jp.usembassy.gov/ja/trafficking-in-persons-report-2021-japan-ja/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://jp.usembassy.gov/ja/trafficking-in-persons-report-2021-japan-ja/</a><span><br> - /HT </span><a href="https://news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/konnoharuki/20210912-00257848" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/konnoharuki/20210912-00257848</a><span><br> - </span><a href="https://misskey.cloud/tags/今野晴貴" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#今野晴貴</a><span> </span><a href="https://misskey.cloud/tags/NPO法人POSSE" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#NPO法人POSSE</a><span><br> <br> </span><a href="https://misskey.cloud/tags/TITP" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TITP</a><span> </span><a href="https://misskey.cloud/tags/TechnicalInternTraining" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TechnicalInternTraining</a><span> </span><a href="https://misskey.cloud/tags/技能実習生" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#技能実習生</a><span> </span><a href="https://misskey.cloud/tags/日本" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#日本</a><span> </span><a href="https://misskey.cloud/tags/日本移民の国" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#日本移民の国</a><span> </span><a href="https://misskey.cloud/tags/ForcedLabor" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#ForcedLabor</a><span> </span><a href="https://misskey.cloud/tags/MOCs" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#MOCs</a><span> </span><a href="https://misskey.cloud/tags/MemorandaOfCooperation" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#MemorandaOfCooperation</a><span> </span><a href="https://misskey.cloud/tags/Japan" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Japan</a><span> </span><a href="https://misskey.cloud/tags/Vietnam" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Vietnam</a><p></p>