HISTORY OF SEX TRAFFICKING IN SOUTH EAST ASIA, DATING BACK TO colonial times (1600s-1930s)
Some of Those involved:
China:
During the Han Period, it was not uncommon for a man in debt to sell his family off to slavery. If it was a wife or daughter, it was likely they would end up in sex trade. Chinese traders were also known to deal in foreign slaves across the Southeast Asian region. China, specifically the Guangxi region has slave trade relation with Northern Vietnam
Philippines:
During the 17th century, the Philippines were under Spanish rule, however, it was illegal for the Spanish to own indigenous slaves. This led to an increase in slave importation from places such as China, Japan, and India.
Europeans:
European slave owners were known to have many women slaves, which was seen as a symbol of class. The Dutch favored ethnic diversity among those enslaved. Europeans and Dutch traders brought more slaves from outside the region in, further worsening the problem. The Portuguese officials agreed in 1624 or stop the trade of Chinese slaves, but Macau merchants were able to avoid this agreement by baptizing Chinese children and passing them of as Christian converts. Portuguese also known for “acquiring Japanese slave girls for sinful purposes”(231).
Japan:
In 1616, Japan implements an anti-trafficking decree in Kyoto. This came with little success, and by 1636, Japanese women were banned from leaving the country. In 1639, the Portuguese would be expelled along with the enslaved women they had obtained. The Chinese and Dutch were allowed to trade in Nagasaki, but the buying and selling of women was prohibited.
Colonization in the 19th Century
Colonial expansion during the nineteenth century did not make the trafficking situation any better. Despite the 1811 ban of slave trade, Dutch expansion into east Indonesia ultimately made trafficking worse. Slave ownership was abolished in 1862, but this did not stop the sexual mistreatment of women. Prostitution was overlooked by colonial authorities in order to appease the “sexual needs” (232) of the Europeans who could not find European wives.
The French did not outlaw slavery within its colonies until 1848, but continued to particip
ate in the slave trade with China and India. in 1873, the French labeled their colonization of Hanoi, Vietnam as “a fight against the slave trade” (232).
The British colonization of Hong Kong in 1841 did not tolerate the slavery within China, and soon passed the 1844 antislavery ordinance. This did not stop young girls being taken as domestic servants as it was not seen as slavery. However, this did not keep up for long as in 1870, Chief Justice Sir John Smale called for the preventing of illegally kidnapping and trafficking young women as he was concerned about the “frequent transition of young girls from domestic service to brothel prostitution”(234).
Even though laws had been passed in order to protect women within the region, trafficking still continued to be a major problem within China and Japan. Debt bondage was used to manipulate and traffic women. During this period in the 19th century women and wives were encouraged to stay home. It wasn’t until 1858, it was noticed there was an absence of Chinese women in the village of Manila. these women had been bought and sold into sex trade whether it be prostitution, or property of those who were colonizing the region.
Changes in the 20th Century
On May 6th, 1904, the “White Slave Traffic” was an agreement signed in Paris that referred to white women being trafficked for sexual exploitation. this was mainly a European agreement, but some Southeast Asian nations also signed. The French signed for the southern Vietnam region. Some British colonies were involved in the agreement such as Burma and Hong Kong, the U.S. signed in 1908 for the Philippines, and the Dutch signed for the Dutch East Indies.
Japan and China did not sign the agreement until 1910. China also enacted its own slavery law which banned the purchase of women as concubines unless permission was given by the family. The Chinese Revolution of 1911 led to the legal system being revised and promoted women’s rights. This would become difficult because of the governments limited ability to change the views and practices of the Chinese people.
In Indochina, legislation was put into act during 1909 and 1912 making the buying and selling of people illegal. Penalties were harsher if the victim was a minor or if the offender was a family member. The Dutch East Indies banned prostitution in 1912. During the International Conference of White Slave Traffic in 1912, many European delegates believed legal protection from trafficking should also extend to Asian women. In 1915, an office was set up for the protection of females fighting trafficking. In Japan, brothels were being busted and men were being reported for running brothels. Even with all of these laws being put into place, trade increased in some places.
League of Nations iNvolvement
A 1932 study of the region was done by Bascom Johnson, Karol Pindor, and Dr. Alma Sundquist. Johnson thought that the abolition of brothels could help combat trafficking. This, however, would be difficult because the the Southeast Asian region had a different view on trafficking that the U.S and Europe did. The final report contained dozens of pages of Chinese and Japanese women being found throughout the region especially within European colonies, which made this a situation that was “politically sensitive for all concerned”(244).
When word got out that the Traveling Commission was investigating, many cities took it upon themselves to shut down brothels, which led to hundreds of women being forced to return to their villages. The final report claimed that any trafficking done in this region would be done by force or manipulation. China happened to be a topic of interest within the report, as it discussed China’s young girls being used as servants known as mui tsai.
China asked for the final report to not have maps that were intended for geographic traffic of women. The country had been making steps in advancing women’s rights such as the 1930 Civil Code which prohibited discriminatory practices against women, and also required a women’s consent before marriage.
Works Cited
Martínez, Julia. “Mapping the Trafficking of Women Across Colonial Southeast Asia, 1600s-1930s.” Journal of Global Slavery, vol. 1, no. 2-3, Brill, 2016, pp. 224–47, https://doi.org/10.1163/2405836X-00102004.