Japan Press Weekly

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2016 March 9 - 15 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Women’s NGOs urge gov’t to implement recommendation by UN panel on elimination of gender discrimination

The Japan NGO Network for CEDAW (JNNC) and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations on March 10 held a rally to urge the government to fully implement the recommendation made by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

The UN panel for gender equality on March 7 published its findings on Japan’s measures to eliminate discrimination against women. It points out that Japan’s Civil Code still includes inappropriate provisions such as the non-approval of separate surnames for a married couple, the difference in minimum ages for legal marriage between men and women, and the mandatory waiting period for remarriage imposed only on divorced women. The committee recommended that those discriminatory provisions be revised without delay.

Regarding the Japanese military’s “comfort women” issue, the UN panel in the findings stated that it is regrettable that the Japan-South Korea agreement has failed to sufficiently adopt a victim-centric approach.

In the rally that took place in the Upper House members’ office building, Nagai Yoshiko of the JNNC said that the focus of the latest UN panel findings is on Japan’s failure to comply with past recommendations by the committee. This reflected the committee’s stance critical of the Japanese government which keeps paying little attention to UN recommendations, she added.

Sakamoto Yoko of the mNet-Information Network for Amending the Civil Code mentioned that the Japanese government was required by CEDAW to submit an additional report on the revision of the Civil Code. She urged the government to squarely face this issue.

On behalf of the JFBA, Itakura Yumi said that the UN panel called on the Japanese government to ensure that women experiencing discrimination in their workplaces have access to judicial services. She highlighted the need for government measures to help female workers easily exercise their rights as workers.

Japanese Communist Party members of the House of Representatives Ikeuchi Saori, Saito Kazuko, Shimizu Tadashi, Hatano Kimie, Motomura Nobuko, lawmakers of the Social Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan, and independent parliamentarians attended the meeting and delivered speeches in solidarity.

Past related articles:
> UN women’s rights committee criticizes Japan for trying to deny forcible recruitment of ‘comfort women [ February 18, 2016]
> Japan’s top court rejects elimination of discriminatory civil code provisions against women [December 17, 2015]