CHILDREN'S RIGHTS COMMITTEE ISSUES PRELIMINARY VIEWS ON SITUATION IN JAPAN

HR/CRC/98/28
28 May 1998

The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning praised Japan for achievements on behalf of children but said there were shortcomings that had to be remedied.

In preliminary observations and recommendations issued after a review of a Japanese report, the Committee's experts said bullying and violence both required urgent consideration and solutions. There was also a need to remove discrimination against children born out of wedlock, they said, adding that the Convention on the Rights of the Child was about human dignity and that every time a child was described as illegitimate, his or her rights were violated in an unacceptable manner.

The experts urged Japan to increase cooperation with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and to consider a list those groups had prepared listing 95 issues to be resolved. Around 80 NGO representatives attended the two-day debate in the Committee regarding the situation in Japan.

As one of the 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Japan must present periodic reports on how it implements the provisions of the treaty. The Committee will issue its final conclusions and observations on the report of Japan on 5 June.

The Committee resumes its work at 3 p.m. today to take up a report by the Maldives.

Preliminary Observations and Recommendations

In preliminary observations and recommendations, the Committee's experts said there had been definite achievements in the implementation of the Convention in Japan; yet, there were shortcomings. The attention of the official Japanese delegation before the Committee was drawn to an NGO report which listed 95 issues which needed to be solved. If the Government took into consideration these recommendations, it would be useful. The delegation was thanked for its openness and frankness. Japan had done a lot but maybe could do a bit more. There was a need to disseminate the report of the delegation, the conclusions of the Committee and its summary records in Japan. The experts appealed to Japan to remove its reservation on the Convention.

There was a need for a coordination mechanism to implement the provisions of the Convention within the Government, Committee experts said. Authorities should also step up cooperation with NGOs, especially with relation to children with disabilities. The experts welcomed the Government's and Prime Minister's intentions to deal with school problems like bullying and corporal punishment. There was a need to introduce human rights issues and the provisions of the Convention, not only among children but also in the society at large.

Experts said the Committee had dealt with issues such as children's legitimacy and rights despite the civil situation of their parents, as well as children in institutions and disabled children. It was important to have an Ombudsman for children, especially if Japan wanted to change attitudes in society. There was furthermore a need to increase efforts to implement all parts of the Convention, to enact new legislation and to further enforce existing legislation in the best interest of the child. Children needed to become more visible in legislation -- the respect of the views of the child and his or her participation were important, in particular with respect to decision-making. Every time a child was not asked his or her opinion, especially concerning decisions, that was a violation. Children had to become partners.

Bullying and violence both required urgent consideration and solutions, the Committee said. The Government had had difficulty coping with bullying and its measures needed to be beefed up. There was a also need to remove discrimination against children born out of wedlock. The Convention was about human dignity and every time a child was described as illegitimate, his or her dignity was violated, and that was unacceptable.

The Committee recalled that the Government had said it was considering discrimination against minorities and referred to a reluctance in public opinion. There should be awareness raising campaigns conducted by the Government to solve this.

Discussion

In the debate held before the preliminary observations were issued, the Committee experts said, among other things, that there remained concerns about the girl child in Japan and the need to reconsider the difference in minimum age for marriage for boys and girls. There was a need to change attitudes in gender perspective in Japan. For example, school books should be checked for stereotypes of girls and boys. On the issue of corporal punishment, although it was illegal, it was still widely practiced in Japan, and there had been press reports of three deaths as a result of corporal punishment in recent years.

Committee experts said the violation of the right to privacy of the children of Japan was of concern to them. For example, students' letters could be opened by teachers, and during medical check ups, boys and girls were not separated when they stripped.

There seemed to be a relationship between bullying and obedience, an expert said. Maybe Japanese used bullying in trying to make children obedient.

According to another expert, non-governmental organizations said the Criminal Code of Japan did not always consider the production of pornography using children a crime; for example, when a child above 13 agreed to participate, it was not considered a crime. What would the Government do to improve the situation, and was it considering further legislation? Japan's penal code should be commended for dealing with Japanese men involved in sexual acts with Asian children outside the country. Still, police had never investigated Japanese offences against Asian children, even when widely covered by the media. Thus, unfortunately, the commendable law was not being applied.

In response to the questions raised, a Japanese Government delegation, led by Nobutoshi Akao, Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said staff in schools must observe non-discrimination between girls and boys. Corporal punishment was a sad case, it was prohibited by law and the Ministry of Education was determined that it should not be exercised. Bullying must also be discouraged; the Government took this matter very seriously and was taking measures to deal with it. Authorities had never considered the relationship between bullying and obedience. It was very important for children to participate in resolving bullying situations. However, sometimes children protected each other and were afraid to become the subject of bullying
themselves if they gave information. The causes of bullying varied and the Ministry of Education carried out measures to find out what was behind it. Sometimes bullying could be caused by stress or
the severe entrance examinations. Corporal punishment was not prevalent everywhere in Japan and no connection was found between it and bullying.

Concerning privacy, the delegation said boys and girls underwent medical check-ups together, but the development stage of the children was considered and they were not asked to strip completely. Turning to nationality questions, a child born to either a Japanese mother or father automatically became a national. A man living with a foreign woman had to recognize the child as his before birth for the baby to be given Japanese nationality; otherwise, the child took the nationality of the mother. In order to prevent statelessness, when a child was born in Japan and the parents were not known or were not Japanese nationals, the child was given Japanese nationality. Otherwise, he or she could get nationality easily through the naturalization process. Japan did not allow the loss of nationality except in exceptional cases. When a child was born, he or she had to be registered. Abandoned children were reported to authorities who registered them.

There were specialists based in Child Guidance Centres to deal with the rehabilitation of children victims of abuse, the delegation said. Juvenile victims of bullying were given continuous guidance and counselling by the specialists. Torture was strictly prohibited under the Constitution and the Government was considering signing the Convention against Torture.

The delegation said there were strict rules for the dissolution of adoptions in order the protect children. These included abuse by the adopted parents and if the natural parents could care for the children. Children without parents were either sent to institutions or were placed with foster parents but there were not enough numbers of the latter. That was why the situation was not quite satisfactory. There had been unfortunate incidents in institutions, but authorities were making utmost efforts to improve the situation. Inspectors from Child Guidance Centres periodically inspected the institutions. Corporal punishment was expressly prohibited in institutions. Under the Civil Code, parents had the authority to care and protect their children and this was linked to their parental duty. If one parent took a child away from the other parent, habeas corpus of Japan stipulated measures
to be taken or the case could be taken to the Family Court.

Children were mostly the responsibility of mothers, as fathers were usually occupied at the workplace, the delegation said. There had been recommendations for fathers to play a more active role in educating children in the home, and various campaigns on this issue had been launched. Children were sent to welfare institutions when their parents did not provide them with adequate care. As for handicapped children, the authorities had taken measures to meet the specific needs of children with different levels of disability. There had been cases of corporal punishment inflicted on disabled children in institutions, but authorities were adamant in taking necessary measures to avoid such situations.

The delegation said there were local centres which offered education to adolescents in order to avoid teenage pregnancies. Authorities were cautious with sexual education so as not to encourage the sexual act too much. Concerning HIV/AIDS-infected children, there were around 350 hospitals around Japan to treat those young persons. As of this year, HIV/AIDS patients were considered to be disabled and could receive benefits for disabled persons.

According to the officials, poor families received Government allowances for text books, food meals, and other expenses. Sometimes, school fees were paid, too, so that poor children had the opportunity to enter higher education. There had been reports of an increase in drug abuse by children and authorities were concerned about this. That was why the harmful effects of drugs on health was emphasized in the curriculum.

Concerning the commercial sexual exploitation of children, the delegation said Japan had participated in the Stockholm Conference in 1996 and had organized a follow-up conference in Tokyo in 1997. However, Japan had not formulated a comprehensive plan on this matter yet. Japan
had presented a bill to the Diet on 22 May on child prostitution and pornography; when that bill became a law, the Government would be in a position to take certain legal measures, including increasing international cooperation to prevent Japanese citizens outside Japan from sexually exploiting children. A law had also been passed in April which would control people trying to put material concerning sexually exploited children on the Internet.

Juvenile delinquents were detained in special institutions while the Family Court investigated their acts and tried to correct their personalities and improve the environment surrounding them, the delegation indicated. These special institutions were entirely different from those used for adults.