After much criticism at home and abroad, the government took a first step to crack down on flesh merchants and finally make human trafficking a punishable offense.

A panel for the Justice Ministry's Legislative Council on Monday came up with a draft bill to revise the Criminal Code and target groups that transport people into Japan for sexual exploitation or organ removal, ministry officials said.

Japanese law currently recognizes kidnapping with the intent to transport victims overseas as a criminal offense.

But there are currently no laws that deal with a reverse scenario-abducting and bringing victims to Japan.

Human traffickers instead must be arrested on such charges as abduction or violations of immigration laws.

The Justice Ministry will await a formal recommendation from the Legislative Council in February, and then submit a set of revision bills to the regular Diet session.

The revisions will be a part of a comprehensive action plan to tackle human trafficking that the government is slated to work out by the end of this month, the officials said.

The revisions would include stricter penalties for kidnapping minors and other confinement crimes.

Japan has been under heavy criticism for not taking action against human trafficking within its borders. In June, the U.S. State Department's annual report on human trafficking said Japan's measures against the crime were insufficient.

Human rights activists in Japan have also criticized the government, saying foreign women duped or forced into the sex industry become victimized again during police crackdowns. The women are usually forced to leave the country while their pimps and traffickers go unpunished, the groups say.

The government in 2002 signed a U.N. convention protocol that requires signatories to punish all traffickers who coerce, threaten or ``buy'' victims.

Under the revision bill, perpetrators who lend a hand by ``hiding'' or ``handing over'' the victim will also be punished.

``Human brokers'' who barter people with the intent to harvest organs for transplant purposes will face a new charge in the Criminal Code-abducting with the intent to injure or threaten.

The crime of ``kidnapping with the intent to transfer the victim out of the country'' will be expanded. It will cover acts where the victim is taken out of any country to a third country.

This addition was prompted by the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents.(IHT/Asahi: December 22,2004)