November 8, 2024

Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Tamura Tomoko expressed her intention to utilize the concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to realize the introduction of a selective dual surname system.

She made this remark on November 7 in an online meeting with members of the Japan NGO Network for CEDAW (JNNC). At the meeting, JCP Vice Chair Kurabayashi Akiko, who is in charge of the JCP Gender Equality Commission, was also present.

The JNNC visited Geneva last month on the occasion of a CEDAW meeting and directly lobby UN committee members to ensure that the actual situation in Japan would be reflected in the meeting’s findings.

In the online meeting, Tamura pointed out that the ruling bloc lost its majority in the October 27 general election, which opened a district possibility that people’s demands may be fulfilled through popular movements. She said, “I’m anxious to work together with you to realize the introduction of a selective dual surname system and other demands. I’d like to use the CEDAW findings as a leverage to achieve this.”

JNNC co-head Kashiwabara Kyoko, noting an important feature of the concluding observations, said that the CEDAW took into account a variety of NGO reports. Yuzuki Yasuko of the JNNC talked about the CEDAW concluding observations in regard to employment.

The Secretary General of “OPCEDAW Action”, a civil group working to realize the full implementation of CEDAW, Kamenaga Nobuko, said that it is significant that the CEDAW added the category “Women, Peace and Security” to its concluding observations which touched on the issue of sexual violence against women committed by U.S. military personnel in Okinawa as well as the wartime Japanese military “comfort women” issue.

The JCP officials and JNNC members exchanged views regarding how to utilize the CEDAW concluding observations and have a dual surname system implemented in Japan in collaboration with civil movements and Diet efforts.

Past related article:
> JCP EC Chair Tamura talks with women’s NGO network [September 4, 2024]