Consideration of Reports of States Parties: 4th and 5th Periodic Reports of Japan (Draft)

This report sets out the response of the United Nations 'Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women' to Japan's fourth and fifth periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Among other advancements, the Committee recognises that the State enacted a Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society in 1999 and a Basic Plan for Gender Equality in 2000. Law reform is also acknowledged in the revision of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law which now prohibits discrimination against women in work from recruitment stage through to retirement. The Committee welcomed the strengthening of the national machinery with the establishment of the Gender Equality Bureau within the Cabinet Office. Recommendations by the Committee include:

? a definition of discrimination against women which encompasses both direct and indirect discrimination be included in domestic legislation
? efforts be intensified to address the issue of violence against women, including domestic violence
? comprehensive and disaggregated data be collected on the situation of minority women in Japan.