List of Issues:

1. The New Grounds for Divorce and Economic Safeguards upon Divorce
   
   

   The Draft Bill for the Family Law Reform, which the Legislative Council submitted to the Minister of Justice in February of 1996, by adding such things as a five year separation as grounds for divorce, clearly accepted the principle of breakdown of the marital relationship as grounds for a judicial divorce. Does the Japanese government subsequently plan to stipulate new provisions which would provide economic safeguards for a divorced wife, such as ensuring the payment of alimony, including the costs associated with child support? If yes, please elaborate on the content. If not, please provide the reasons.
   
   

2. Domestic Violence
   
   

   Does the Japanese government plan to include domestic violence as an element of breakdown of the marital relationship? If not, what are the reasons?
   
   

3. The Six Months Prohibition on Re-Marriage following Divorce
   
   

   Does the Japanese government plan to amend the current system which imposes on women only a prohibition on re-marriage for six months following divorce?

Background:

1. Since "marriage shall be based on the mutual consent of both sexes," (Article 24, Constitution of Japan) and since marriage should be based on a relationship of mutual affection, it is only natural that marriages be dissolved when married life fails and nothing remains of the relationship. In this regard, the Prime Minister's Office conducted a public opinion census on the Family Law in 1996 targeting 2,157 people who are the age of 20 or over. A majority responded that divorce should be granted where there is no marital relationship for a certain period of time, irrespective of which spouse was said to have caused the breakdown of the relationship (however, only 47.9% of men who are the age of 60 or over were in favor, and only 48.2% of women between 50 and 59 years of age were in favor.) In the same census, in response to a question regarding the appropriate amount of time necessary to validate a breakdown of the relationship, the greatest percentage, 27.2%, answered that two years to four years of separation would constitute grounds for divorce.
   
   The census shows that the public opinion is inclined to support the active use of breakdown of the marital relationship as grounds for divorce. In light of the census, it is reasonable that the Legislative Council's Draft Bill set five years as a period to recognize the breakdown of a marital relationship.
   
   In this case, however, even if the cause of the breakdown of the marriage was the husband's infidelity, a request for divorce filed by a husband will be granted after five years of separation. In Japan there are many cases of a divorced husband neglecting the payment of alimony, including the payment of child support which he promised upon divorce. Only 14.9% of divorced single mothers receive child support from their former husbands.
   
   The Draft Bill for the Family Law Reform has a provision to clarify the sharing of the cost of child support, but the revision has not yet been passed by the Diet, and no other system to secure the payment of child support has been adopted. Also, from the point of view of Article 27, paragraph 4 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, the government should consider the creation of a system to safeguard payments of child support by employing such measures as deducting payments from the former husband's salary or by the government's advancement of payments on behalf of the former husband.
   
   The rate of middle-age women, especially those who are housewives, who are able to find regular employment is extremely low. Therefore, a divorced woman would face great disadvantages should the five-year provision be implemented without safeguarding her economic status. Divorce under such conditions would cause economic inequality which violates Article 23, paragraph 4 of the Covenant. Should the five-year provision be introduced, it is necessary to stipulate specific provisions which would ensure the payment of alimony and the costs of child support in order to guarantee the livelihood of a divorced woman and the child or children in her custody.
   
   
2. According to Annual Judicial Statistics (1994), violence on the part of the husband is the second largest cause behind women filing a request for divorce. In December of 1993, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, recognizing that domestic violence is a violation of a woman's human rights. However in Japan, there is little awareness that domestic violence is violation of the human rights of the spouse (mostly wives), and in many cases a perpetrator of domestic violence is viewed with leniency. It is necessary for Japan to state explicitly that domestic violence is human rights violation against women, and it is also necessary to create a specific provision to stipulate domestic violence as grounds for divorce in order to realize the concept of the Declaration.
   
   
3. Only women are prohibited from re-marrying for six months after divorce. The Draft Bill shortened the period to 100 days, the minimum period required to avoid an overlap in the presumption of the "legitimate" father. While the Draft Bill is not legislated yet, the provision must be immediately amended or eliminated as it imposes an unnecessary restriction on a woman's right to self-determination.