Japan has no laws prohibiting racial, ethnic, or religious discrimination, or discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Japan does not have a national human rights institution. 

Women’s Rights

Protests occurred across Japan this year because rape cases were resulted in acquittals. Prosecutors have to prove that violence or intimidation was involved, or that the victim couldn’t be resistant in the case of Japanese rape law. In one case, a court acquitted a father accused of raping his 19-year-old daughter, although the court recognized that the sex was non-consensual and that he had been physically and sexually abusing the victim since she was younger. 

Children’s Rights 

In June 2023, the congress revised laws to ban corporal punishment against children by parents and other guardians. The law also started the review process to create mechanisms to protect children’s rights following several fatal cases of abuse in the name of discipline. 

Labor Rights 

In May, the parliament enacted legislation that requires corporations to implement measures to prevent power harassment as early as April 2020 for large businesses and April 2022 for medium-to-small businesses. 

Source: World Report 2023: Japan | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)

Writer: Sakura