Japan Press Weekly

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2022 November 2 - 8 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Japan should ratify OP-CDEAW without delay: JCP Nihi

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Nihi Sohei on November 1 at a House Judicial Affairs Committee meeting urged the government to ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (OP-CEDAW).

Nihi pointed out that amid growing global calls for Japan’s ratification of the OP-CEDAW, the number of Japanese municipalities which adopted a statement urging the central government to ratify the treaty without delay reached 164. Justice Minister Hanashi Yasuhiro said that he will take that fact into serious consideration.

The ratification of the OP-CEDAW will enable individual women to submit complaints to the CEDAW Committee regarding violations of their rights guaranteed under the covenant.

The CEDAW Committee in its concluding observations adopted in 2003 recognized that this procedure plays an important role in strengthening judicial independence and cultivating a social understanding of the extensive dimensions of discrimination against women. The chair of the Working Group on Communications of CEDAW, Patricia Shultz, explaining the importance of the ratification of the optional protocol, pointed out that a state party to the accord has to accept inquiries from the CEDAW, which will help enhance the judiciary’s fundamental role in protecting human rights.

JCP Nihi asked Justice Minister Hanashi for his views on this explanation. The minister refused to respond.

Past related article:
> 118 organizations jointly request gov’t to ratify OP-CEDAW [June 15, 2021]