Philippines takes aim at juicy bar trafficking

[unhappycamper]

Juicy bar employees hang out in the doorway of one of the 70 such establishments in The Ville near Camp Casey, South Korea.


Philippines takes aim at juicy bar trafficking
By Jon Rabiroff, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, November 15, 2009

UIJEONGBU, South Korea — Philippine women would no longer be allowed to work in South Korean “juicy bars” — where prostitution is often a byproduct — if Philippine Embassy officials’ efforts to tighten up immigration regulations succeed.

Embassy labor attache Delmer Cruz said he hopes that by the first quarter of 2010 women from his country will be prohibited from employment as “hospitality workers … at bars in the vicinity of U.S. bases or near the sea ports.”

He hinted in September that changes could be on the way that might affect the juicy bar industry, but in recent days he revealed that “high-level measures” are being discussed and a further crackdown on Filipinas traveling to South Korea is in the offing. He stressed that a number of agencies and officials still have to reach a consensus before any additional steps are taken in that direction.

“Our objective is to send only true entertainers and performing artists who work in decent places and provide wholesome entertainment ... in five-star hotels, classy restaurants, cruise ships, amusement and entertainment centers,” he said. “We don’t really consider the juicy girls as the kinds of entertainers we’d like to send for employment abroad.”

In September, Stars and Stripes reported that despite the U.S. military’s stated “zero tolerance” policy for human trafficking, prostitution continues to be a problem at many of the juicy bars that cluster by the dozens in seedy entertainment districts near bases across South Korea.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66099