July 30, 2011
The House of Councilors on July 29 unanimously approved and enacted a bill to revise the basic law for disabled persons, marking the first amendment of related legislations necessary for Japan to ratify the U.N. Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The revised law stipulates, “All citizens shall be respected as individuals who equally enjoy fundamental human rights regardless of having or not having disabilities,” clearly indicating that the government cannot take measures that could infringe on the fundamental human rights of disabled people.
The law also requires the Cabinet Office to form a policy committee that includes disabled people as its members to monitor the progress of implementation of related measures and that will issue recommendations to the government.
At the July 28 Upper House Cabinet Committee meeting, Japanese Communist Party member Tamura Tomoko expressed her support of the bill by describing it as promoting policies that will benefit the disabled.
On the other hand, she urged the government to ensure that citizens with disabilities will take part in related discussions in the future, criticizing the bill as being submitted before discussions reached a conclusion at a conference on improvement of legislations for the disabled.
This conference, established within the Cabinet Office, has so far carried out active discussions on the amendment at more than 30 meetings with many citizens observing each time. Many of its members are citizens with disabilities.
The amended law requires the government to promote measures to guarantee rights of disabled people “as much as possible.” The qualifying phrase was criticized by JCP representatives during the Diet deliberation as unbinding and freeing the government from implementing the full extent of the law.
The revised law stipulates, “All citizens shall be respected as individuals who equally enjoy fundamental human rights regardless of having or not having disabilities,” clearly indicating that the government cannot take measures that could infringe on the fundamental human rights of disabled people.
The law also requires the Cabinet Office to form a policy committee that includes disabled people as its members to monitor the progress of implementation of related measures and that will issue recommendations to the government.
At the July 28 Upper House Cabinet Committee meeting, Japanese Communist Party member Tamura Tomoko expressed her support of the bill by describing it as promoting policies that will benefit the disabled.
On the other hand, she urged the government to ensure that citizens with disabilities will take part in related discussions in the future, criticizing the bill as being submitted before discussions reached a conclusion at a conference on improvement of legislations for the disabled.
This conference, established within the Cabinet Office, has so far carried out active discussions on the amendment at more than 30 meetings with many citizens observing each time. Many of its members are citizens with disabilities.
The amended law requires the government to promote measures to guarantee rights of disabled people “as much as possible.” The qualifying phrase was criticized by JCP representatives during the Diet deliberation as unbinding and freeing the government from implementing the full extent of the law.
