Latest news with #UnitedStatesDepartmentofState
Japan Today
15 hours ago
- Japan Today
A rare, direct warning from Japan signals a shift in the fight against child sex tourism in Asia
By Ming Gao Japan's embassy in Laos and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a rare and unusually direct advisory, warning Japanese men against 'buying sex from children' in Laos. The move was sparked by Ayako Iwatake, a restaurant owner in Vientiane, who allegedly saw social media posts of Japanese men bragging about child prostitution. In response, she launched a petition calling for government action. The Japanese-language bulletin makes clear such conduct is prosecutable under both Laotian law and Japan's child prostitution and pornography law, which applies extraterritorially. This diplomatic statement was not only a legal warning. It was a rare public acknowledgement of Japanese men's alleged entanglement in transnational child sex tourism, particularly in Southeast Asia. It's also a moment that demands we look beyond individual criminal acts or any one nation and consider the historical, racial and structural inequalities that make such mobility and exploitation possible. A changing map of exploitation Selling and buying sex in Asia is nothing new. The contours have shifted over time but the underlying sentiment has remained constant: some lives are cheap and commodified, and some wallets are deep and entitled. Japan's involvement in overseas prostitution stretches back to the Meiji period (1868-1912). Young women from impoverished rural regions (known as karayuki-san) migrated abroad, often to Southeast Asia, to work in the sex industry, from port towns in Malaya to brothels in China and the Pacific Islands. If poverty once pushed Japanese women abroad to sell their bodies, by the second half of the 20th century – fueled by Japan's postwar economic boom – it was wealthy Japanese men who began traveling overseas to buy sex. Around the 2000s, the dynamic flipped again. In South Korea, now a developed economy, men travelled to Southeast Asia – and later to countries such as Russia and Uzbekistan – following routes once taken by Japanese men. Later in the same period, the flow took an even darker turn. Japanese and South Korean men began to emerge as major buyers of child sex abroad, particularly across Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands and even Mongolia. According to the United States Department of State, Japanese men continued to be 'a significant source of demand for sex tourism', while South Korean men remained 'a source of demand for child sex tourism'. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime and other organizations have also flagged both countries as key contributors to child sexual exploitation in the region. From exporter to destination: Japan's new role in the sex trade A more recent and troubling shift appears to be unfolding within Japan. Amid ongoing economic stagnation and the depreciation of the yen, Tokyo has reportedly become a destination for inbound sex tourism. Youth protection organizations have observed a notable rise in foreign male clients, particularly Chinese, frequenting areas where teenage girls and young women engage in survival sex. What ties these movements together is not just culturally specific beliefs, such as the fetishization of virginity or the superstition that sex with young girls brings good luck in business, but power. The battle to protect children The global campaign to end child sex tourism began in earnest with the founding of ECPAT (a global network of organizations that seeks to end the sexual exploitation of children) in 1990 to confront the rising exploitation of children in Southeast Asia. Despite legal frameworks and international scrutiny, the abuse of children remains disturbingly common. Several factors converge here: endemic poverty, weak law enforcement and a constant influx of wealthier foreign men. Add to that the digital age of information and communication technologies, where child sex can be advertised, arranged and commodified through encrypted platforms and invitation-only forums, and the crisis deepens. While local governments often pledge reform, implementation is inconsistent. Buyers, especially foreign buyers, often manage to evade consequences. However, in early 2025, Japan's National Police Agency arrested 111 people – including high school teachers and tutors – in a nationwide crackdown on online child sexual exploitation, conducted in coordination with international partners. Why this moment matters The shock surrounding the Laos revelations and the unusually direct response from Japanese authorities offers a rare opportunity to confront the deeper systems at work. Sex tourism doesn't happen in a vacuum. It's enabled by uneven development, transnational mobility, weak regulation and social silence. But this moment also shows grassroots activism can force institutional action. Japan's official warning wasn't triggered by a government audit or diplomatic scandal. It came because Ayako Iwatake saw social media posts of Japanese men boasting about buying sex from children and refused to look away. When she delivered the petition to the embassy, it responded quickly. Less than ten days later, the Foreign Ministry issued a public warning, clearly outlining the legal consequences of child sex crimes committed abroad. Iwatake's action is a reminder: it doesn't take a government to expose a system. It takes someone willing to speak out – even when it's uncomfortable. As she told Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun: It was just too blatant. I couldn't look the other way. It's commendable that Japan acted swiftly. But a warning alone isn't enough. Japan should strengthen and expand its international cooperation to combat these heinous crimes. A more decisive model can be seen in a recent case in Vietnam, where U.S. authorities infiltrated a livestream child sex abuse network for the first time in that country. Working undercover for months, they coordinated with Vietnamese officials to arrest a mother who had been sexually abusing her daughter on demand for paying viewers abroad. The rescue of the nine-year-old victim showed what serious cross-border intervention looks like. But for every headline-grabbing scandal, there are hundreds of untold stories. The Laos case should be the beginning of a broader reckoning with how sex, money and power move across borders – and who pays the price. Ming Gao is a Research Fellow of East Asia Studies, Lund University. The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. External Link © The Conversation
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,247
Here is how things stand on Friday, July 25 : Fighting Ukraine and Russia have attacked targets on each other's territory after brief direct talks between the two sides in Istanbul failed to make any progress on steps to end nearly three-and-a-half years of war. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said Russia launched 103 drones and four missiles during its overnight attack, hitting civilian infrastructure, including seaports, transport hubs, and residential areas. One person was killed and four others injured after Russian forces staged the latest in a series of mass drone attacks on Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa. The attack also caused several fires as well as damage to the historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage site. At least two people were killed and at least 33 others wounded after Russian glide bombs struck a residential neighbourhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city in the northeast of the country, officials said. One person was killed in a drone attack in Ukraine's Sumy region on the northern border with Russia, where Moscow's forces have established a foothold in recent months. Russia also attacked the central Ukrainian region of Cherkasy overnight, injuring seven people, including a nine-year-old child, and damaging more than a dozen residential apartment buildings. Emergency officials in Russia's Krasnodar region on the Black Sea said debris from a falling drone struck and killed a woman in the Adler district near the resort city of Sochi. A second woman was being treated in hospital for serious injuries. The administrative head of the Sirius federal district, south of Sochi, said a drone hit an oil terminal, giving no further details. Russia's aviation authority also said operations were suspended at Sochi airport for about four hours. Russian forces have taken control of the villages of Zvirove and Novoekonomichne in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, the Russian Ministry of Defence said. The claim could not be independently verified. Russian forces are making every effort to establish buffer zones along the border with Ukraine, state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. Military aid The United States Department of State has approved potential military sales, including air defence, to Ukraine worth $330m, the Pentagon said. An Indian company – Ideal Detonators Private Limited – shipped $1.4m worth of an explosive compound with military uses to Russia in December, according to Indian customs data seen by the Reuters news agency, despite US threats to impose sanctions on any entity supporting Russia's Ukraine war effort. Politics and diplomacy President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has blamed Russia for rejecting a proposal presented during the Istanbul talks for an immediate and complete ceasefire. He said that instead of accepting a truce deal, Russian drones struck residential buildings in Ukraine. Zelenskyy has submitted draft legislation to restore the independence of Ukraine's anticorruption agency NABU and anticorruption prosecution unit SAPO, reversing course after an outburst of public criticism over his attempt to remove their status as independent organisations. The Kremlin said it was hard to see how Russian President Vladimir Putin could meet Zelenskyy before the end of August, RIA reported. Earlier, a Ukrainian official suggested that Kyiv had proposed a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting in August, within the 50-day deadline set by the US for both sides to reach a ceasefire deal. The European Union has expressed its expectations that China will respond to the EU's concerns and use its influence to urge Russia towards accepting a ceasefire in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said following her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Russia Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of pursuing a path of 'militarisation' and said this was a cause for concern. She said Berlin is pursuing an openly hostile policy, and that Merz was stepping up anti-Russian rhetoric 'literally every day'. Economy Ukraine's Central Bank Governor Andriy Pyshnyy said his government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – Kyiv's key international lender – were working on a new lending programme. Ukraine currently has a $15.5bn four-year lending programme with the IMF that is set to expire in 2027. Kyiv has received about $10.6bn under the programme so far.
Straits Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
US has talked with Syria about death of US citizen, State Dept says
Find out what's new on ST website and app. United States Department of State logo and U.S. flag are seen in this illustration taken April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department has called for an immediate investigation into the recent death of a U.S. citizen in Syria, and there have been direct discussions with the Syrian government about the issue, deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said on Thursday. U.S. citizen Hosam Saraya died last week in the predominantly Druze region of Sweida, the State Department previously confirmed, amid ongoing sectarian clashes there. ABC News last week cited videos shared on social media that showed eight men kneeling in civilian clothes before being executed by gunfire by a group of soldiers. One of the victims was apparently Saraya. "What I can say is we have had direct discussions with the Syrian government on this issue, and have called for an immediate investigation into the matter," Pigott told reporters during a press briefing. "Hosam and his family deserve justice, and those responsible for this atrocity must be held accountable." Saraya's death comes at a complex time for the Syrian government, which rose to power after long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad was deposed last year. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is struggling to keep together a country beset by sectarian rifts, and he faces suspicion among some Western leaders due to his past membership in violent terrorist organizations. Israeli forces have pressed deep into the country's southwest. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Asia 11 Thai civilians killed as Thai and Cambodian militaries clash at disputed border: Reports Asia Singapore urges all parties in Thailand-Cambodia border dispute to exercise restraint Asia Deadly Thai-Cambodian dispute puts Asean's relevance on the line Life Hulk Hogan, who helped turn pro wrestling into a billion-dollar spectacle, dies at 71 Singapore Avoid water activities around Tuas Second Link, Raffles Marina after chemical tank accident: NEA Singapore Khatib Camp to make way for housing, with its functions moving to Amoy Quee Camp Singapore Mindef to set up new volunteer management unit to grow volunteer pool Singapore Primary 1 registration: 29 schools to conduct ballot in Phase 2B The fighting in Sweida has pitted the Druze, who distrust the new government in Damascus, against Sunni Muslim Bedouin. In May, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would lift sanctions on Syria in a bid to integrate the new government into the international community. In late June, he officially signed an executive order terminating U.S. sanctions. REUTERS
Straits Times
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
US State Department draws criticism for shutting office that brings home deceased diplomats
The seal of the United States Department of State is shown in Washington, U.S., January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts WASHINGTON - Among the scores of offices the U.S. State Department eliminated last week in its dramatic revamp, the shuttering of one little-known office has raised particular alarm among U.S. diplomats. The small team at the Department's Office of Casualty Assistance, which supports U.S. diplomats and their families abroad in the event of death or serious injury, received termination notices last Friday along with more than 1,350 Department employees. The firings came as a surprise, sources familiar with their situation said. When the notices arrived by email on Friday, the team was working on repatriating the remains of a senior U.S. official who died in a car crash in Mexico last week. The U.S. Consulate in Monterrey said in a Facebook statement that Brian Matthew Faughnan, a member of its mission, died in a car accident in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila on July 9. Kirk Leash, the team leader at OCA, informed other U.S. officials at the U.S. mission in Mexico and his counterparts in different government agencies who were working on Faughnan's case that Leash was just removed from his job, and that he was no longer able to help, according to two sources familiar with the exchange. The elimination of the office was part of a major overhaul of the State Department by President Donald Trump, who aims to reshape the U.S. diplomatic corps to ensure it faithfully implements his "America First" policies. It is also part of an unprecedented push by the Republican president to shrink the federal government, which he says was misspending American taxpayers' money. The State Department said the agency continues to be "fully equipped" with casualty evacuations if there are employee deaths overseas. "There has been no interruption in our capabilities to carry out this mission," said a senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. TAKING CARE OF DIPLOMATS The State Department revamp drew intense criticism from Democratic senators, former diplomats and secretaries of state for what they said was the arbitrary way it was carried out. Critics said it involved the firing of experienced, specialized employees in far-flung parts of the world, and that such skilled staffers are difficult to replace quickly. A State Department memo to employees last week, seen by Reuters, said the moves were made in a "carefully tailored" way. But the shuttering of the bureau made some question that statement. "I don't think any sitting president or any secretary of state would not want their people, their personnel - the most valuable asset of their agency - to be taken care of," said Edith Bartley, who is a spokesperson for the families of the Americans killed in the 1998 al-Qaeda attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. "You want to know that your country does all that it can to take care of you, your remains and your family in the aftermath. That's critical. That is America First," Bartley said. Bartley lost her father, who was a career diplomat, and brother in the 1998 attacks, which killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. OCA was established a year later, thanks in large part to her advocacy. The office is typically supported by volunteers from the Department's Human Resources bureau who can be mobilized on short notice following a mass casualty event. The teams were called upon after the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the death of four Americans including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens. "OCA is in touch with the deceased employee's family within hours after the death, and provides support services as long as they are needed - for weeks, months, and in some cases, years," an undated article in the Department's magazine said, referring to the work of the office. A senior State Department official said on Wednesday that the agency transferred the functions of the OCA to the Office of Employee Relations. But that office has a much wider remit, supporting the agency's workforce, and lacks the specific knowledge and expertise in navigating the complicated procedures of repatriating a deceased diplomat, sources familiar with the matter said. "That function is being folded into another office," Michael Rigas, deputy secretary of state for Management and Resources, said on Wednesday, in response to a question about the closure of the office by Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen at a hearing. Shaheen also asked Rigas to get back to her on how the department was handling the repatriation of the body of Faughnan, the U.S. official who died in Mexico. "I don't think the family thinks that that's a good firing," Shaheen said. Reuters was unable to reach Faughnan's family. REUTERS
Libya Review
17-07-2025
- Libya Review
US Warns Citizens Against Travelling to Libya
The United States Department of State has reissued its highest-level travel advisory for Libya, warning American citizens to avoid all travel to the North African country due to ongoing threats, including terrorism, armed conflict, and civil unrest. In the updated Level 4 advisory, released on Wednesday, the State Department cited a host of grave concerns: 'crime, terrorism, unexploded landmines, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict.' The notice underscores the unpredictable and dangerous environment, urging all Americans currently in Libya to leave immediately using commercial transport options. The advisory highlights the growing threat of terrorist attacks in public spaces such as markets, government facilities, transportation hubs, and hotels. According to the State Department, such attacks could occur 'with little or no warning.' Kidnapping is also rampant, with U.S. citizens potentially targeted for ransom or political leverage. Adding to the dangers are widespread remnants of war. 'Unexploded landmines, cluster munitions, and ammunition' continue to pose risks across the country. Sporadic clashes between rival armed groups have also heightened the instability, often erupting without warning—even in major cities. With limited diplomatic operations in Libya, the United States government warns it cannot provide regular consular support to citizens in the country. It strongly advises all U.S. nationals to reconsider any plans to travel to Libya and to leave immediately if already present. This reissued advisory reaffirms Libya's status as one of the most dangerous travel destinations for Americans, reflecting the ongoing collapse of law and order and the absence of a unified security apparatus. Tags: libyaterrorismtravelus
