Urairat Soimee (1968 - May 2006) was a victim of human trafficking

Human trafficking

Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...

 in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. She was from Phetchabun

Phetchabun

Phetchabun is a town in Thailand, capital of the Phetchabun Province. It covers the tambon Nai Mueang of the Phetchabun district, along the Pa Sak River...

's Lom Sak district in Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 and had lived in Yokkaichi, a town in the Mie Prefecture

Mie Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan which is part of the Kansai regions on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Tsu.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, Mie prefecture was known as Ise Province and Iga Province....

 of Japan, where she was forced into prostitution

Prostitution

Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

. She was incarcerated for several years in a Japanese prison until she was released in September 2005 due to the development of a terminal form of ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is a cancerous growth arising from the ovary. Symptoms are frequently very subtle early on and may include: bloating, pelvic pain, difficulty eating and frequent urination, and are easily confused with other illnesses....

. She was allowed to return to her hometown in Thailand to spend her final days with her family. Upon her return, she filed a civil lawsuit against her traffickers in Thailand, reported to be the first suit of its kind in the country. However, she died in May 2006 at the age of 38 before the case was adjudicated. Her adoptive mother has said that she will continue her case in court.

Background

Urairat Soimee was born in the Lom Sak district of Phetchabun, Thailand. She had three children and a husband, who became disabled due to a car accident. Like many women in her village, she was poor and had little formal education. She went by the nickname "Bua", which means "lotus flower" in Thai.

Urairat was recruited to work in Japan by a wealthy neighbor, Patama Kosaka, who was also a childhood friend of Urairat's mother. Kosaka claimed that she was married to a Japanese man and that she owned a Thai restaurant in Japan where she wanted Urairat to work as a waitress. Urairat had no radio or television and little formal education, and therefore was not aware of the many cases in which women from Thailand were tricked or coerced into prostitution abroad.

Forced prostitution in Japan

Urairat arrived in Japan in 2000 and was transported to Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture by a Thai woman named Dao and her husband, where she was told that she would have work as a prostitute. When she attempted to protest, she was told that if she did not comply, she would be sold to a brothel on an island and thrown into the sea if she tried to escape. Urairat was told that she could leave after paying off her debt within five months. During this time, she was locked in the apartment with other Thai sex slaves, and taken out by Dao, her pimp, to hotel rooms to service customers, ranging from three to six a day. She was forced to service customers while menstruating, and even after having contracted a painful sexually transmitted disease.

However, at the end of five months, Dao refused to release her, saying that she had been sold to another yakuza

Yakuza

, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...

 gang and that her debt had increased. It was then that she contacted another Thai sex slave, Pranee, and another Thai friend, Boon, to help her escape.

Escape and incarceration

The circumstances surrounding the killing of Dao and Urairat's escape are unclear. In an interview with the Bangkok Post

Bangkok Post

The Bangkok Post is a broadsheet, English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. The first issue was sold on August 1, 1946. It had four pages and cost 1 baht, a considerable amount at the time....

, Urairat claimed that her Thai friend, Boon, came over to the apartment and helped her escape, and that Boon eventually killed Dao to prevent her from going to the yakuza. However, the Kyodo news service reported that Japanese prosecutors accused Urairat of robbery and murder by smashing Dao's head with a bottle.

Despite pleas from human rights organizations, Boon was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the murder, and Urairat was sentenced for seven years. While in prison, she developed a terminal form of ovarian cancer and was released from custody to spend her remaining days with her family in Thailand.

Court battle and final days

Patama and her parents, the three traffickers who deceived Urairat and Pranee into coming to Japan, were sentenced to 13 years imprisonment in criminal court. Urairat also filed a 4.6 million baht civil lawsuit against the three, reported to be the first of its kind in Thailand. However, Urairat died in May 2006 before her case was adjudicated. Her adoptive mother, Lamyai Kaewkerd, has vowed to continue her battle in court.

Upon her return to Thailand, Urairat became a strong voice against human trafficking, leading a campaign that urged other victims to step forward. She earned an award from Thailand's Social Development and Human Security Ministry in March 2006 to celebrate International Women's Day for her work in fighting human trafficking.

"My wish is for the government and all sides to get tough with human trafficking rackets, the same way it suppresses drugs", she was quoted as saying. "I want my last wish to be fulfilled. It is not only a gift for me, but also for women in general because they shouldn't live through a hellish experience like I have."

External links

• Japan has tackled sex trafficking, but challenges remain