Experts commissioned by the Ministry of Justice proposed Raise the minimum age of consent for sexual intercourse to 16include reforms to facilitate judicial processes for rape and to be able to consider voyeurists as criminals.
These recommendations follow a series of acquittals in Japan in rape cases in 2019, decisions that outraged the plaintiffs and sparked demonstrations by women across the country in solidarity with the victims.
Legislative amendments based on these proposals could be approved by Parliament this year.
The age of sexual consent in Japan is the lowest among the G7 member countries, and it is also lower than in China and South Korea, neighboring countries of the archipelago.
Under the current law on sexual relations – which has not been modified since its introduction in 1907 – minors from the age of 13 are considered to be able to voluntarily consent to sexual acts.
This makes it difficult for such young victims to bring their attackers to justice, while in many other countries such an act would be directly punishable.
In practice, however, departmental orders in many parts of Japan – which prohibit “obscene” acts with minors – raise the age of consent to 18.
But these orders are accompanied by much lighter penalties than if the defendants were prosecuted for rape, considering such sexual acts as simply “unethical” behavior, says Kazuna Kanajiri, director of PAPS, a Japanese association for the defense of victims of pornography. and sexual exploitation.
This allows the attackers to “blame their victims, alleging that they themselves initiated or enjoyed sexual relations,” said Kanajiri, interviewed by AFP.
However, sexual relations between two adolescents over the age of 13 would continue to be legal if there is less than a five-year difference between them.
Japan already modified its legislation against sexual violence in 2017, but for many these reforms are not enough. One of the most criticized points of the current legislation on rape in Japan is that prosecutors must prove that the defendants resorted to “violence and intimidation”.
Critics argue that victims are often blamed for not having resisted sufficiently, stressing that assaulted individuals may feel paralyzed or may submit to rape for fear of further injury.
The expert committee of the Ministry of Justice does not propose to delete the text, but to include other provisions to define rape, such as the fact that the victim has been drugged, surprised or psychologically manipulated.
This clarification “is not intended to facilitate or complicate” rape convictions, but rather to make court verdicts “more consistent,” explains Yusuke Asanuma, head of the Ministry of Justice.
These developments are progress, but “still do not meet international standards for rape law,” the advocacy group Human Rights Now responded in a statement.
The ministry’s expert panel is also proposing to introduce a new offense covering the act of secretly filming someone for sexual purposes, as well as extending the statute of limitations for sexual abuse of minors, in order to give them more time to file complaints.
Source: Ambito
