It was proposed on Friday (17) by a member of Japan's Ministry of Justice, as part of a broad review of legislation on sex crimes, raising the country's age of consent, which is currently one of the lowest in the world at just 13 years.
As part of a package of reforms that includes the definition of acts that characterize a process of rape and the criminalization of voyeurism (a sexual disorder characterized by the observation of a person undressing, naked or engaging in sexual acts, without them knowing they are being watched), the proposal to raise the age of consent to 16 years was presented to the Minister of Justice.
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These recommendations come after a series of rape acquittals that sparked an outcry and could serve as the basis for draft amendments that will be voted on by parliament later this year.
Under current Japanese law, children who are at least 13 years old are considered capable of giving consent to sexual activity, which means that it is not considered statutory rape. This is the lowest age of consent among industrialized G7 nations.
Regional laws banning "indecent" acts with minors are seen as effectively raising the age of consent to 18 in many parts of Japan.
The minimum age for consent varies in different countries. In Great Britain and South Korea, it is 16 years. In France, the minimum age is 15 years. Meanwhile, in Germany and China, the age of consent is 14 years old.
In Brazil, the age of consent is 14 years old, which defines as rape of vulnerable the act of having sexual intercourse or performing another libidinous act with a minor under 14 years old. If a child under the age of 14 engages in a sexual act, sexual violence is legally presumed, regardless of whether there was actual violence.
Under current Japanese law, children as young as 13 are considered capable of consenting to sexual activities, which means that these activities are not considered rape. As a result, adolescent rape survivors face the same barriers to prosecuting perpetrators as adults.
Human rights defenders considered the measure a step forward, despite not yet comply with international norms on rape, advocacy group Human Rights Now said in a communicated.
The member of Japan's Ministry of Justice who proposed the bill further argues that Japan should change the definition of rape to include all non-consensual sexual intercourse. The proposal also includes a new offense to cover the act of secretly filming someone for sexual purposes, as well as increasing the statute of limitations period for sexual violence against minors, allowing them more time to denounce.