United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). World Population Prospects 2024, Online Edition. Estimates 2024.
(1) Make full use of the provisions of the Convention and the Committee's general recommendation No. 19, as well as its jurisprudence, when amending its Penal Code, in order to ensure that it comprehensively addresses violence against women, including to address domestic violence and incest as specific crimes; (2) Expedite the amendment of the Penal Code to expand the definition of rape and ensure ex officio prosecution of sex crimes; (3) Amend the Penal Code to explicitly criminalize marital rape and raise the minimum penalty for statutory rape; (4) Expedite the judicial process for issuing emergency protection orders; (5) Encourage reporting by victims of all forms of violence against women and girls, particularly migrant women, and ensure that shelters are available and adequately equipped for women victims of violence; (6) Ensure training of lead personnel and that all cases of violence against women and girls are thoroughly and effectively investigated and that perpetrators are prosecuted and, if convicted, adequately punished; (7) Ensure that the Spousal Violence Prevention Act also applies to all women in all family settings. The Committee recommends that the State party conduct a study on the extent of past violations in the form of forced sterilizations of women under the Eugenic Protection Act and that it prosecute and adequately punish perpetrators, if they have been convicted. The Committee further recommends that the State party adopt specific measures aimed at providing all victims of forced sterilization with assistance to access legal remedies and that it provide them with compensation and rehabilitative services.
(1) Adopt legislation to prohibit and sanction sexist speech and propaganda advocating racial superiority or hatred, including attacks on ethnic and other minority women such as Ainu, Buraku and Zainichi Korean women and migrant women; (2) Through an independent expert body, regularly monitor and assess the impact of measures taken to eliminate discriminatory gender stereotypes and prejudices against Ainu, Buraku, Zainichi Korean women and migrant women.
(1) Adopt comprehensive legislation that governs the distribution of all forms of marital property, with clear and defined procedures that can be followed by divorcing spouses; (2) Ensure that divorcing women have access to information enabling them to demand and obtain disclosure of the financial situation of their spouses; (3) Review the law governing custody and child support in order to provide for judicial review proceedings in cases where divorce is reached by consent of the parties, and ensure that the welfare of children, including their economic needs through child support payments, are guaranteed.
(1) Intensify regular labour inspections and other efforts to combat trafficking in persons, particularly women and girls recruited under the Industrial Training and Technical Internship Programme; (2) Intensify monitoring and inspection programmes targeting establishments that provide adult entertainment and produce pornographic film, in order to prevent sexual exploitation; (3) Continue efforts aimed at bilateral, regional and international cooperation to prevent trafficking, including by exchanging information with other countries in the region and harmonizing legal procedures to prosecute traffickers; (4) Provide information in the next periodic report on the implementation of reforms envisaged under the Industrial Training and Technical Internship Programme; (5) Ratify the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
Japan’s Constitution does not contain any explicit provisions on violence against women. However, it does include general principles related to equality and human rights.
Japan’s legal framework addresses some forms of violence against women through the following laws:
- Act on the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection of Victims, 2001
- Penal Code reforms, 2023, criminalizing some forms of sexual violence.
The Fifth Basic Plan for Gender Equality, Field 5 Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women (VAW), 2020.