The clarification "isn't meant to make it easier or harder" to secure rape convictions, but "will hopefully make court verdicts more consistent", justice ministry official Yusuke Asanuma said.Ĭampaigners have welcomed the move as a step forward though it "still fails to meet international rape legislation standards", advocacy group Human Rights Now said in a statement. The justice ministry panel did not scrap the wording but clarified it covers drugging, catching victims off-guard and psychologically controlling them. Japan last revised its criminal code on sexual offences in 2017, for the first time in more than a century, but campaigners said the reforms were insufficient.Īnd in 2019, a string of acquittals in rape cases triggered nationwide rallies.Īmong the most controversial provisions in the existing law is a requirement that prosecutors prove rape perpetrators used "violence and intimidation" to incapacitate victims.Ĭritics have argued that the requirement effectively blames victims for not resisting enough, and say survivors can freeze during assaults or submit to avoid further injury. Teen couples who are no more than five years apart in age would be exempt from prosecution if both partners are over 13. This leaves room for perpetrators to "shift blame to the victims, and argue that sex was initiated or enjoyed by the children", said Kanajiri, who heads Tokyo-based group PAPS and welcomes plans to raise the age of consent to 16. In practice, regional ordinances banning "lewd" acts with minors are sometimes seen as effectively raising the age of consent to 18 in many parts of Japan.īut they come with significantly lighter penalties than rape charges and deem sex with children merely "unethical" conduct, "completely discounting its forced nature", Kazuna Kanajiri, an activist fighting pornography and sexual exploitation, told AFP. This has meant even teen rape survivors face the same high bars to prosecuting perpetrators that adults do. Under current Japanese law, children at least 13 years old are considered capable of consent, meaning sexual activity with them is not considered statutory rape. The age of consent is 16 in Britain and South Korea, 15 in France, and 14 in Germany and China.
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