Japan studies law against corporal punishment

The Abe government wants to have the legislation approved by mid-March. The goal is to be able to immediately remove children maltreated by violent parents. 2018 was one of the worst years, with over 80 thousand children victims of domestic violence and verbal abuse, abandonment and sexual abuse.

Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The government of the Japanese premier Shinzo Abe has decided to run for cover against the scourge of domestic violence against minors. For this reason, in the next legislative revision, which will be approved in mid-March, he wants to pass a law that prohibits corporal punishment on children by parents. Government sources report that the legislation also intends to strengthen the authority of the centers for the protection of minors (210 throughout the territory), to enable the immediate removal of children abused within violent families.

The initiative comes in the wake of some recent cases of child deaths due to continuous mistreatment by parents, who imposed long periods without food or standing to "teach" discipline to their children. The case that caused the most sensation was that of the little Mia Kurihara, 10, who died in January in Noda (in the Chiba Prefecture), despite her desperate requests for help at school.

Before that, the episode that brought to light the existence of a generalized system of abuse in families and in Japanese society, was that of Yua Funato, abused by her mother who forced her to wake up at 4 in the morning to learn to write . She died in March 2018, just five years old, due to pneumonia and severe malnutrition (she weighed eight kilos less than her peers). Msgr. Tarcisio Kikuchi, Archbishop of Tokyo, who said that similar tragedies occur because of the  solitude of young peopleand destruction of families.

According to experts, isolation from society and poverty in Japan are among the leading causes of child abuse. The latest statistics published in January by the National Police Agency (NPA) outline an alarming phenomenon. Since 2004, that is, since the country began to draw up reports on domestic violence, the number of cases is constantly growing. 2018 was one of the worst years, with over 80,000 reported episodes.

• japan
• mistreatment
• minors
• children
• law
• abe
• government
• abuse
• human rights
• physical violence