List of issues : Japan. 27/10/2003.

Convention Abbreviation: CRC
CRC/C/Q/JPN/2
27 October 2003
Original: ENGLISH



COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
35th session
Pre-sessional Working Group
6-10 October 2003


IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of the second periodic report of JAPAN (CRC/C/104/Add.2)


Part I


Under this section the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible, before 28 November 2003:

A. Data and statistics

1. Please provide disaggregated data (by gender, age groups, minority and ethnic groups, urban and rural areas) for the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 on the number and proportion of children under 18 living in the State party.

2. In light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide additional disaggregated data for 2001- 2003, on budget allocations and trends (in percentages of the national and regional budgets or GDP) allocated to the implementation of the Convention for the following areas:
a) education (different types of education, i.e. pre-primary, primary and secondary education);
b) health care (different types of health services, i.e. primary health care, vaccination programmes, adolescent health care and other health care services for children);
c) programmes and services for children with disabilities;
d) support programmes for families;
e) support for children living below the poverty line;
f) the protection of children who are in need of alternative care including the support of care institutions;
g) programmes and activities for the prevention of and protection from child abuse and child sexual exploitation and child labour;
h) juvenile justice.
Please also indicate the expenses of the private sector, in particular for health and education.

3. With reference to children deprived of a family environment and separated from parents, please provide disaggregated data (by gender, age groups, minority and ethnic groups, urban and rural areas) for the last three years on the number of children:
a) separated from their parents;
b) placed in institutions;
c) placed with foster families;
d) adopted domestically or through inter-country adoptions.4. Please specify the number of children with disabilities, disaggregated by sex, age ethnic and minority group, for the years 2000, 2001 and 2002:
a) living with their families;
b) in institutions;
c) attending regular schools; and
d) attending special schools.

5. With reference to child abuse, please provide disaggregated data (by age, gender, minority and ethnic group and types of violations reported) for the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 on the:
a) number of reports received per year in the last three years;
b) number and percentage of reports which have resulted in either a court decision or other types of follow-up.

6. Please provide disaggregated data (by gender, age groups, minority and ethnic groups, urban and rural areas) for the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 on:
a) the enrolment, attendance and completion rates in percentages of the relevant group in pre-primary schools, in primary schools and in secondary schools;
b) number and percentage of drop-outs and repetitions;
c) ratio of teachers to students
d) number and proportion of students attending supplementary tuition or tutoring outside of school.

7. Please provide disaggregated statistical data (by gender, age groups, minority and ethnic groups, urban, and rural areas) on infant and child mortality, early pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) including HIV/AIDs, suicide, drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse for the years 2000, 2001 and 2002.

8. Please provide appropriate disaggregated data (including by gender, age, minority and ethnic groups, and type of crime) for the years 2000, 2001 and 2002, in particular on the number of:
a) minors, who have allegedly committed a crime, reported to the police;
b) minors who have been sentenced and type of punishment or sanctions related to offences including length of deprivation of liberty;
c) detention facilities for juvenile delinquents and their capacity;
d) minors detained in these facilities and minors detained in adult facilities;
e) minors kept in pre-trail detention and the average length of their detention;
f) reported cases of abuse and maltreatment of minors during their arrest and detention;
g) number of juveniles tried and sentenced as adults.

9. With reference to special protection measures, please provide statistical data (including by gender, age, urban/rural areas) per year between 2000 and 2002 on:
a) the number of children involved in sexual exploitation, including prostitution, pornography and trafficking;
b) the number of children involved in sexual exploitation who received assistance in recovery and counseling;
c) the number of unaccompanied minors, asylum-seeking and refugee children.

B. General Measures of Implementation

1. The Committee would appreciate receiving information on intended or planned activities related to recommendations contained in the Committee's previous concluding observations (CRC/C/15/Add.90, 24 June 1998) which have not yet been implemented, in particular those related to non-discrimination (para. 35), the competitive nature of the education system (para. 43) and violence in schools including bullying (para. 45)..

2. Please provide information on any actions which have been taken, or will be taken with a view to possibly withdrawing the State party's reservations to art. 37(c) and its declarations to articles 9 and 10.

3. Please provide additional information on the system for data collection and whether it covers in a disaggregated way all children under 18 and all areas under the Convention.

4. Please provide information on the bill, which is currently before parliament, on the establishment of a national human rights commission. In light of the Paris Principles and the Committee's General Comment no. 2, the Committee is particularly interested in information on ensuring its independence and its role in monitoring the Convention.

5. Please provide more specific information on the status and authority of the Cabinet Office in charge of the coordination of the implementation of the Convention, and its relationship to the Committee for the Promotion of Youth Policy and the Juvenile Problems section of the Prime Minister's Office.

6. Please provide additional information on the privatization of public nursery schools and child care institutions and its impact on the availability and accessibility of these services.

Part II

Please provide copies of the text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in all official languages of the State party as well as in other languages or dialects, when available. If possible, please submit these texts in electronic form.

Part III

Under this section, the State party is to briefly (3 pages maximum) update the information provided in its report with regard to:

- new bills or enacted legislation
- new institutions
- newly implemented policies
- newly implemented programmes and projects and their scope

Part IV

The following is a preliminary list of major issues (that does not contain issues already covered in Part I) that the Committee intends to take up during the dialogue with the State party. They do not require written responses. This list is not exhaustive as other issues might be raised in the course of the dialogue.

1. Discrimination in particular with respect to girls, children with disabilities and ethnic minorities, including Koreans, Ainu and Amerasian children.
2. Child participation in society and in schools.
3. Right to identity, in particular the citizenship laws and how they pertain to children born out-of-wedlock and foreigners born in Japan.
4. Corporal punishment in schools, institutions and the home.
5. Child abuse and the provision of counselling and recovery services for child victims.
6. Alternative care institutions and regulation of private institutions caring for children.
7. Child care, in particular before and after school.
8. Inter-country adoption, and children abducted from Japan.
9. Adolescent health, including youth suicide and its causes, sexual and reproductive health, abuse of drugs and stress-related disorders.
10. Recovery of maintenance, in particular from parents living outside Japan.
11. Aims of education and the competitiveness of the educations system, as well as the planned Education Reform.
12. Education for children with disabilities.
13. Sexual exploitation of children.
14. The administration of juvenile justice and the Revised Juvenile Justice Law (2000).


?/FONT>1996-2001
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland


Home | About Bayefsky.com | Text of the Treaties | Amendments to the Treaties

Documents by State | Documents by Category | Documents by Theme or Subject Matter

How to Complain About Human Rights Treaty Violations | Working Methods of the Treaty Bodies | Report: Universality at the Crossroads