44. Ms. Rasekh observed that while Japan had taken impressive steps towards gender equality and implementation of the Convention, there were still practices in the country that were in contravention both of the Convention and of other international human rights conventions. Commending Japan on the passage of a law banning child prostitution and child pornography, she asked what immediate actions and measures had been taken to ban video games that promoted sexual violence in society and to prosecute the makers and distributors thereof. Sexual violence was a crime, and its promotion through such products should be stopped urgently. Additionally, she asked what concrete measures had been taken against marital rape, incest, sexual violence against children and sexual harassment in the workplace. She observed that in the Penal Code sexual violence was considered an offence against morality, not a crime, and urged its amendment.
46. Ms. Okajima (Japan) agreed that the media had a major impact and must be induced to promote a clear message on gender equality. Japan did not have laws or regulations covering how the media should report, but it did have a set of guidelines that could be distributed both by central government and by the prefectural governments. Beyond that, the onus would be on the media to regulate its own way of working. There were increasing numbers of young Japanese women working in the media but they were not yet in leadership positions where they were actually producing content. The Basic Plan stipulated that 30 per cent of such positions should be filled by women by 2020.
48. With regard to child pornography, there were plans to revise the law so that the mere possession of such pornography would be prohibited. However, the Diet had risen, which meant that it had not been possible to bring that to fruition in the last session.
フィンランド出身のBruun委員の質問 23. Lastly, the existence of a market in pornographic games, in which women were portrayed as enjoying rape, constituted a clear violation of the Convention. What was the Government doing to tackle that problem?
これに対する岡島敦子 男女共同参画局長の返答 35. Ms. Okajima (Japan) said that the ruling coalition party had organized a group to consider the issue of regulating video games containing images of sexual violence against women and children. Policy proposals had recently been compiled and a law banning child pornography was undergoing revision. A resolution with regard to child pornography and virtual images in the National Diet of Japan had unfortunately been abandoned due to the recent dissolution of the Diet. In the outcome document of the Third World Conference Against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, for which Japan was a permanent consultant, virtual images had been mentioned as one medium for child pornography. It was hoped that on that basis the Government of Japan would continue to work on the issue of virtual images of child pornography.
