Activity Report: August 2025
- Sep 24, 2025
- 9 min read
This summer, in addition to our counseling and support work in Japan, PAPS put energy into international collaboration and communications. We learn from developments overseas as we consider the institutional reforms Japan needs. Through collaboration with international companies, we hope to prevent harm before it happens and let as many people as possible know that there is a place they can safely turn to. We believe that cooperation across borders accelerates both the prevention of harm and its redress. Here we introduce some of these international efforts.
Meta's "STOP! Sextortion" awareness campaign
PAPS is cooperating with Meta's "STOP! Sextortion" awareness campaign and has begun sharing information to protect children and young people from sextortion.
Sextortion is a criminal act in which perpetrators, after getting someone to send nude photos or videos via social media or calling apps, demand money or further images. Victims span a wide range of ages, including minors, and cases leaving deep psychological and social scars are on the rise. In Japan, many children and parents still do not know about this crime, making preventive education urgent.
The campaign distributes videos produced by Meta and emphasizes three messages: "Never send nude photos", "Complying with demands will not stop the harm", and "If you are victimized, you are not at fault". It also introduces "Take It Down", a free tool that prevents the spread of images, and how to reach PAPS for help.
At Meta's office, we were interviewed by ch FILES, a monthly free magazine that supports high school students taking on challenges. We answered questions about sextortion—the realities of how perpetrators operate and what to do if you are harmed. They received it as an issue very close to home.
Study visit on digital sexual violence support in Taiwan
Together with a researcher on sexual violence, PAPS visited Taiwan and was able to learn directly, through site visits, about the organizations working on the front lines and the government systems for responding to digital sexual violence and sexual exploitation.
Garden of Hope (GOH)
Garden of Hope is one of Taiwan's leading women's support NGOs, assisting victims of sexual violence, domestic violence, and more at about 60 locations nationwide, with a staff of 500–600. It is a "comprehensive" organization: it runs shelters, provides legal and psychological support, helps with employment and education, and also engages in awareness-raising, policy advocacy, and research.
Though a private NGO, GOH provides support commissioned by the government while also advocating for policy. It combines a flexibility that government cannot have with the power to bring grounded, frontline voices into policy. The short distance between the front line of victim support and policymaking was a key lesson.
Beyond direct support—shelters, legal counseling, therapy, vocational training—GOH also serves people with diverse backgrounds, including teenage pregnancy and LGBTQ+ communities. Its comprehensive support, extending not just to "providing a safe place" but to recovery after harm and social independence, offered rich insights for thinking about support in Japan.
Also distinctive was the "DV and Sexual Violence Prevention Fund", a system design that channels fines into funding victim support. Together with a state system of advance compensation payments, mechanisms that give victims early financial security struck us as instructive for making support sustainable.
GOH also puts effort into "treatment and education for perpetrators". Given high reoffending rates, the view that strengthening intervention with perpetrators leads to preventing harm is an issue Japan cannot ignore either. It gave us major hints for policy advocacy and support-system building as PAPS expands its work in Japan.
iWIN (Institute of Watch Internet Network)
iWIN is a reporting and takedown-support body for online content, run by a private organization under commission from Taiwan's Ministry of Education. With a staff of 600–700, it works to protect children and youth from inappropriate content. It is similar to Japan's Internet Hotline Center, but is distinctive in addressing a broader range of harmful information.
1. A clear legal basis and effective takedown requests
Takedown requests are made under the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act. Requests can be made even to overseas platforms on this legal basis, and in 2024 the takedown success rate exceeded 75% for overseas sites and reached about 90% for domestic sites. We keenly felt that Japan likewise needs to establish a law that grounds takedown demands.
2. Promoting self-regulation through guidelines
iWIN defines six categories of prohibited expression—including "pornography", "violence", and "horror"—and calls on platforms at home and abroad to self-regulate. The approach of building safe environments together with industry, rather than through compulsion alone, offers lessons for Japan.
3. A council that brings diverse stakeholders together
The "Prohibited Content Review Council", held every six months, brings together more than 40 participants: government, businesses, NPOs, and academics. A mechanism in which representatives of children's and women's organizations gather in one place to discuss operational improvements impressed us as democratic and effective.
4. Education programs for businesses
Online training sessions are held nine to ten times a year to keep businesses informed of laws and the latest developments. A system of continuous updates is in place so that companies cannot get away with saying they "didn't know".
What became visible through iWIN's work: takedown requests backed by law; collaboration among government, the private sector, and civil society; and educational engagement with businesses
—these three are the keys to combating harmful information. In Japan as well, we felt strongly that the challenge ahead is how to connect the frontline that seeks takedowns with the government that builds the system.
SIARC (Sexual Image Abuse Response Center)
In Taiwan, the national government has established a public one-stop office dedicated to digital sexual violence: SIARC (Sexual Image Abuse Response Center). It opened in 2023 as an agency directly under the Ministry of Health and Welfare (Taiwan's counterpart to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare).
SIARC is the sole public specialized office for responding to the leaking of sexual images and videos. While it does not provide counseling, it handles everything in one place—receiving takedown reports, making takedown requests, preserving evidence, and coordinating with police—so that victims are not sent from agency to agency. In just over a year since opening, it has received about 6,800 reports a year, with a takedown success rate approaching 90%.
1. Strong legal backing for takedown requests
Taiwan revised its Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act, its Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act, and related laws, imposing takedown and evidence-preservation obligations on platform operators. Operators that do not comply may even face access restrictions from within Taiwan. It made us acutely aware that in Japan, the legal force behind takedown requests is weak and institutional development is needed.
2. Emphasis on punishing perpetrators, not only protecting victims
Particularly distinctive is a mechanism that allows prosecutors to issue "protection orders" against perpetrators. These orders are issued from the standpoint of punishing the perpetrator rather than protecting the victim, and have real effect in keeping perpetrators away.
3. Proactive responses for minors
Cases involving those under 18 are non-complaint offenses, so action can be taken even on reports from someone other than the person concerned. More than half of video-call and sextortion cases involve minors, and takedowns and police coordination were carried out swiftly.
4. International takedown requests are possible
Takedown-request formats are in place for major platforms such as Google, Meta, LINE, and Microsoft, and the legal basis on which SIARC can send official documents overseas is codified.
The biggest realization PAPS took from SIARC is the importance of a one-stop office that does not send victims from agency to agency. Victims of digital sexual violence can suffer additional physical and mental strain from being made to go back and forth between multiple agencies for every consultation or takedown request. That is exactly why a system that handles everything from consultation to takedown support at a single point of contact is necessary.
To truly protect victims, it is also essential to clearly codify takedown obligations in law and to institutionalize international takedown requests. The spread of sexual images and videos crosses borders, so a mechanism that is complete only domestically is not enough.
PAPS practices "one-stop support", handling everything from receiving consultations to takedown requests. That a consultation service can itself issue takedown requests is a strength that brings real reassurance to victims. We hope to spread this counseling and support model to the world as a leading, victim-centered practice.
Taipei City Center for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
The last stop on our Taiwan visit, the Taipei City Center for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, is a public one-stop support agency under the Taipei City Government's Department of Social Welfare. To protect victims of domestic and sexual violence, it comprehensively covers protection, recovery, perpetrator programs, and community prevention.
1. Thoroughly victim-centered
Support is designed around respecting victims' autonomy and choices, putting trauma recovery and safety first. For adults, support can begin even from a phone consultation, and the person's wishes are respected. For minors, in-person consultation is the rule, and support is considered according to developmental stage, including how guardians are involved.
2. Extending to treatment and education for perpetrators
Mechanisms to supervise, educate, and treat perpetrators are established in the legal system. A specialized team of psychologists, physicians, and social workers runs perpetrator programs and works to prevent reoffending—a strength Japan does not have.
3. Coordination with one-stop hospitals
There are multiple hospitals combining forensic evidence collection with psychological care, with even the lighting and interiors designed for victims' privacy and psychological safety. To prevent "secondary victimization" through repeated questioning, there is a system whereby a social worker is always present.
4. Responding to sexual violence between minors
Premised on cases in which "both parties are at once victim and perpetrator", the center has support systems that include education for parents and coordination with schools. This is an area increasingly seen as a challenge in Japan as well.
5. A system rooted in institutions
Legal reforms accumulated from the 1990s led to institutionalization in Taipei around 2012. A 2023 revision explicitly added "victims of sexual images" to the center's mandate, enabling responses to digital sexual violence as well.
What PAPS learned: while keeping victims at the center, systems that manage and treat perpetrators in the community are needed in Japan as well. One-stop hospitals and social worker accompaniment for preventing secondary victimization strike us as highly effective. Attention to relationships between minors, with coordination with parents and schools, is an important support approach that Japan should consider as well.
On the institutional reforms Japan needs
Through this visit to Taiwan, the direction of the institutional reforms Japan should urgently pursue came into view. To protect victims, prevent recurrence, and build security across society, we believe the following mechanisms are essential.
1. A single "entry point" for victims
Taiwan has SIARC, the state's official office for digital sexual violence. Japan likewise needs a "single point of contact" that handles reports, evidence preservation, takedown requests, and legal and psychological guidance in one place—ideally anonymous, multilingual, and available 365 days a year.
2. Clear platform responsibility
It is essential to legislate takedown deadlines and evidence-preservation obligations for operators of social media and video sites. A mechanism enabling administrative penalties or domestic access restrictions when takedown requests are ignored will also be needed.
3. Apply protection orders to the digital sphere
Taiwan has a system whereby prosecutors can issue no-contact orders against perpetrators. Japan, too, should make it possible to issue no-contact orders—covering online contact such as DMs and calls—even before a verdict.
4. A public–private hotline
Like Taiwan's iWIN, a system in which government and the private sector jointly handle reporting and removal of harmful content makes responses faster. Japan should likewise establish a public–private hotline in which education, telecommunications, police, and NPOs cooperate.
5. Treatment and education for perpetrators
As important as victim support is treatment for perpetrators. Psychologists, physicians, and social workers need to be involved in treating perpetrators, with systems in place to prevent reoffending.
6. Education and responses to cases involving minors
We need systems in which schools, families, and specialized agencies work together so that trouble between minors can also be addressed. Opportunities to learn about sextortion and consent should be built into school education, and parents need accurate information as well.
7. Technical infrastructure
State support is essential for systems that safely preserve evidence and technologies that prevent the re-spread of images of victims. The adoption of tools that can be used anonymously, such as "Take It Down" and "StopNCII", should also be promoted.
Meeting with Exodus Cry, a U.S. organization working on sexual exploitation
In the U.S., viewing of pornography sites by minors is a serious concern, and in some states the fact that sites can be accessed without age verification has become an issue. Exodus Cry sees this as "an environment conducive to the sexual exploitation of children" and promotes legislation mandating age verification. Specifically, accessing adult sites would require age verification using identification documents or government-issued ID, with a mechanism of penalties for non-compliant operators (access blocking or fines).
Exodus Cry takes the position that sex trafficking and exploitation exist because there is demand to buy. This is the policy known as the "Nordic Model", and PAPS believes Japan needs this system as well. Nordic countries report that after its introduction, the market for the sex trade shrank, contributing to a reduction in sexual exploitation.
About the PAPS Activity Report 2024–2025
PAPS is currently preparing its 2024–2025 activity report, scheduled for completion during September. We plan to introduce it next month.
Through your support, we bring recovery to people caught up in sexual exploitation.Your support is a powerful force for solving the problem of sexual exploitation.
1,000 yen a month (33 yen a day) provides one night per year of safe, secure accommodation for a woman with nowhere to stay. 
3,000 yen a month sustains our counseling service for victims of digital sexual violence for one day per year. 
500 yen a month provides one accompaniment per year for a young woman we meet through late-night outreach in entertainment districts.
