The Great Power of Freedom of Speech...and the Great Responsibility that Comes with It

In the wake of the terror attacks in Paris, Charlie Hebdo has, to many, become a shining symbol for the true spirit of free speech. The debate over what status Charlie, which is not without flaws, should occupy in the hierarchy of noble martyrs for one of the most celebrated of fundamental rights. Freedom of speech* (like "women's rights") is something that everyone is "supposed to" get behind, and something that most world leaders purport to support, even while they are quite purposefully acting to suppress it.

But what exactly are people saying when they show their support for freedom of speech? Do they have a concrete idea of what they are referring to? Or are they simply cheering for a vague idea that they feel stands for the good of society and the people? On top of that, does everyone have the same idea of what "freedom of speech" means?

Japan's Foremost Human Rights Problem: Lack of Awareness

December 10th is Human Rights Day. On that day in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly (GA) adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was the first global document that expressed the inherent rights of all human beings. Two years later, the GA proclaimed December 10th Human Rights Day. On this Human Rights Day in 2014, I want to do a little reflecting about the state of human rights in my country of origin: Japan.

Today, the notion of human rights has spread across the globe. Yet, human rights violations--ranging from everyday violations to massive and systematic ones--continue to occur in almost every corner of the world. Among these violations, much of the attention, understandably, goes to the most egregious violations that are occurring on the largest scale. So we talk about North Korea's prison camps or the draconian anti-homosexuality law in Uganda (since declared "null and void" by the Constitutional Court), but so many of us often forget that human rights violations do not have to be so horrible or so widespread to be legitimate. Unfortunately, human rights violations occur even in democracies with strong notions of individual rights (see, e.g., the United States).

On Human Trafficking

On October 4, I participated in the Stop Modern Slavery WalkFest 2014, an annual event intended to raise awareness about human trafficking. Public awareness is a much needed element in the fight against human trafficking because of the widespread misunderstanding of what this term means. I think I have some basic knowledge to offer people who have zero background on this issue because I did a little anti-trafficking work in law school and have also been volunteering my time at an anti-trafficking organization. So for this post, I'm going to try a little awareness-raising of my own by talking about what I know about human trafficking in the U.S. and by hopefully helping debunk some myths that people may believe regarding the issue.

When hearing the term "human trafficking," most people imagine a group of young women and girls, being smuggled across borders from Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia and sold for sex. While this image is not inaccurate in the sense that it is one picture of human trafficking, it's far from a complete picture. Among trafficking victims are men as well as women and children--although the latter are affected disproportionately. Many persons are trafficked domestically and never cross any border of any kind. Sex trafficking is not uncommon, but labor trafficking is also a widespread form of human trafficking.