GENEVA -- The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child urged Japan to fully ban corporal punishment against children in all settings including at school and in the home.
The committee on Thursday issued the results of its review on Japan's implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its optional protocols. The review was conducted in January for the first time in nine years, and involved face-to-face interviews with Japanese government officials.
The committee concluded that prohibition of corporal punishment in the schools "is not effectively implemented," and that such punishment in the home and in alternative care settings "is not fully prohibited by law."
Corporal punishment has been prohibited by law in more than 50 countries, according to the committee.
Kirsten Sandberg, a committee member who participated in the review, said regarding the recent case in which 10-year-old Mia Kurihara was found dead at her home in Noda, Chiba Prefecture -- leading to the arrest of Kurihara's parents on suspicion of assault -- that all adults have the responsibility to act if they detect corporal punishment against children. She also urged Japan to review its laws for punishing child abuse, and said the country must change its attitude toward abuse.
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