almost 2% from 2002, according to the Cabinet Office. Approximately 50% of the cases involved violence, and 40% were cases of parental neglect. Child welfare centers likewise reported a record 26,573 calls in 2003, an increase of 2,800 calls from the previous year. Generally accepted statistics indicate that upwards of 70% of child abuse cases involve a female perpetrator, usually the child's mother. Although the Government offered subsidies to local governments to combat record-high child abuse, only 13% accepted the offer. Most of the local governments declining the subsidies stated they could not afford to pay their share of the bill. in 2014 the police reported 13,037 cases of child abuse including sexual abuse and death. On July 20, 2020, a report by HRW revealed that child athletes in Japan have routinely suffered physical, sexual and verbal abuse from their coaches, which led some of them to take their own lives. The report “‘I Was Hit So Many Times I Can’t Count’: Abuse of Child Athletes in Japan, documented the country's history of corporal punishment in sport, known as taibatsu in Japanese, and revealed child abuse in sports training throughout Japanese schools, federations, and elite sports. Trafficking of persons The Constitution prohibits holding persons in bondage, and the government employed a variety of labor and immigration statutes to carry out limited trafficking-related prosecutions; however, there are no specific laws that prohibit trafficking in persons. In April, the government created a senior coordinator presiding over an inter-ministerial committee for anti-trafficking efforts. In December, the Government released its Action Plan to combat trafficking in persons. Focusing on prevention, prosecution, and protection of trafficking victims, the Action Plan calls for a review of "entertainer" visas, strengthened immigration control, revision of the penal code to make trafficking in persons a crime, and added protection of victims through shelters, counseling, and repatriation assistance. As of May 2019, Japan has ratified the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children and United Nations Convention Against Corruption. Sexual exploitation Trafficking of women and girls into the country has been a problem. Women and girls, primarily from Thailand, the Philippines, and Eastern Europe, were trafficked into the country for sexual exploitation and forced labour. Women and girls from Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, Malaysia, Burma, and Indonesia also were trafficked into the country in smaller numbers. The country