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National Report on Follow-up to the World Summit for Children

1. Preface

   The World Summit for Children was held at the United Nations in New York on September 29 and 30 in 1990 attended in by leaders of 71 countries. Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, representing Japan, made a keynote address in session 3 "Development of Children." The summit adopted the "World Declaration on the Survival, Protection, and Development of Children" and a "Plan of Action" to implement commitments, setting seven major goals for the survival, protection and development of children and calling for actions in 10 different fields.
   Based on Paragraph 34 (a) of the Plan of Action, Japan worked out national programs of action in December 1991. Asked by United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali, Japan reexamined its national programs in July 1996. Another interim review of the programs was conducted in October 1998 when the Fourth East Asia and Pacific Ministerial Consultation on Goals for Children and Development Toward the Year 2000 was held.
   This report is made out to review Japan's efforts to implement its commitments prior to the follow-up meeting of the World Summit for Children scheduled for September 2001.

2. National Programs based on the Plan of Action, achievements and challenges for the future

(1) Overview

(A) As of October 1, 1999, the population of children (those below the age of 18 years) stands at 23,261,000, accounting for 18.4 percent of the total population. Families with children total 13,172,000, 29.3 percent of the total households. When the national action program for Year 2000 was worked out in December 1991, children's population accounted for 23.06 percent of the total population and the families with children, accounted for 38.5 percent of the total households. The number of children has been decreasing since then, which is a serious problem for Japan. In an effort to put on brakes on declining birthrate, the Japanese government has been taking measures and will continue to do so.

(B) Japan has been expanding its welfare and educational programs particularly since the end of World War II. Every program has attained high-level achievement. (See Statistical Appendix). By continuing these programs, the government of Japan intends to improve children and home welfare programs and improve universal access to basic education.

(C) As the Japanese society gets more and more complicated, social environment involving children, including home environment, is undergoing great changes. Such new social problems as child prostitution, child pornography, bullying, juvenile delinquency, suicide, drug abuse and child abuse have emerged and deteriorated. The Japanese government faces these problems which have to be addressed urgently and effectively.

(D) Based upon Paragraph 34 (a) of the Plan of Action, Japan drew up the National Plan of Action in December 1991. Twice in 1996 and 1998, the programs were thoroughly reviewed. Since the adoption of the World Declaration and the Plan of Action at the World Summit for Children in 1990, Japan has also made efforts to ensure the survival and health of children, and to promote basic education in developing countries.

(2) State of children and programs in Japan

(A) The Convention on the Rights of the Child

  1. Actions and achievements
       Japan signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child in September 1990 and ratified it in April 1994. In May 1996, Japan submitted the initial report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child and in July 1998, the Committee adopted the concluding observations on the report.
       In an effort to publicize the convention that sets the important principles for implementing measures to respect and ensure the rights of the child, the Japanese government has widely distributed posters and brochures on the convention. Since May 1994, when the convention came into effect, the government has been carrying out various programs to tackle the problems concerning the rights of the child and to effectively implement the convention. In 1994, the system of "Volunteers for Children's Rights Protection" was created, and "Children's Rights Dial 110" telephone lines were set up at Legal Affairs Bureaus and District Legal Affairs Bureaus across the country.
  2. Challenges
       Examining the contents of the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child in June 1998, the government of Japan is making efforts to take appropriate response to it. By May 2001, the government of Japan is to submit the second report.
       In addition to the ordinary programs, the Human Rights Organs of the Ministry of Justice will strengthen information campaigns to raise awareness of the convention by using easier, more familiar terms and themes etc. While efforts to create networks of agencies involved will be promoted, the Organs concerned will take concerted actions to protect the rights of the child with regard to specific violation cases.

(B) Prevention of disease and public health

  1. Actions and achievements
    • In 1994, tetanus was added to the list of legally mandatory immunization for children. Currently eight diseases are subject to the vaccination: diphtheria, poliomyelitis, Japanese encephalitis, measles, rubella, pertussis and tuberculosis. As a measure to address infectious diseases, the Law Concerning the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and Medical Care for Patients of Infections was enacted and enforced in April 1999.
    • Every year, around December 1, every year, the World AIDS Day, the Japanese government conducts a promotion of accurate knowledge of HIV/AIDS, targeting the general public, including young people, by posting posters, organizing events and distributing leaflets. Efforts have also been made to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS and to eliminate discriminatory attitudes toward people living with HIV/AIDS. Since fiscal year 1993, scientific researches on HIV transmission from mother to child have been conducted under national HIV/AIDS research programs. In March 2000, a manual was published with the findings of those HIV/AIDS researches in order to reduce the risk of mother-to-infant transmission and its rates.
    • Thanks to the advancement of medicine and medical technologies and improved nutrition in the postwar period, maternal and child health conditions drastically improved in Japan, reaching the highest level of the world. For example, the infant mortality rate was 60.1 per 1,000 in 1950, and it improved to 3.6 per 1,000 in 1998. National programs for maintaining the health of mother and child include distributing "maternity record books" to pregnant women to assist their health care, and physical checks-up and health care guidance in order to detect diseases and growth disorders at an early stage. Appropriate medical services are also provided as part of comprehensive programs to promote health of pregnant and lactating women and infants. These programs have greatly contributed to the improvement of maternal and child health.
    • The stable supply of safe drinking water is indispensable for the health and growth of children. In Japan, the water supply system is well established, covering 96.4 percent of the total population. Environmental sanitation has improved due partly to the development of proper disposal and treatment of human waste and household waste water.
  2. Challenges
    • The government intends to make utmost efforts to meet the public expectation for the prevention of infectious diseases and provision of quality and appropriate medical care to infectious disease patients, steadfastly enforcing the Infectious Disease Control Law.
    • The government finds it important to implement fine-tuned effective programs for young people following Prevention Guidelines for Specific Communicable Diseases With Specific Reference to Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome adopted in October 1999. Keeping it in mind, educational campaigns on AIDS, targeting the youth, will be continued. With respect to research programs, researches for preventing the secondary infection to uninfected women, and clinical applications of research findings will be further expanded.
    • As for promoting maternal and child health issues, physical checks-up and health care guidance will be promoted. By further improving programs for mother and infant health, the government will make utmost efforts to upgrade the level of maternal health.
    • The government will continue to improve programs to ensure the supply of safe drinking water.

(C) Food and nutrition

  1. Actions and achievements
    In Japan, malnutrition of mother and child is not a problem any more. The government promoted breast feeding while providing nutritious supplements to pregnant and lactating women and infants of low-income families whose nutrition levels have to be improved.
  2. Challenge
    The government will continue the campaign to promote breast feeding and step up assistance to low-income families.

(D) Empowerment of Women

  1. Actions and achievements
    • Programs based on the Plan for Gender Equality 2000 have been implemented in an effort to build a gender-equal society where men and women, mutually respecting human rights, can share responsibilities and demonstrate their individuality and capacity regardless of sex. The plan was adopted by the Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality that is made up of all the Cabinet members and jointly led by the prime minister and the chief cabinet secretary.
         The Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society was promulgated and took effect in June 1999. The law sets the basic philosophy to facilitate comprehensive plans to build gender-equal society. Stipulated under the law are (1) respect for the human rights of women and men, (2) consideration of social systems and practices that can become obstacles impeding formation of a gender-equal society, (3) joint participation in planning and deciding policies, (4) compatibility of activities in family life and other activities and (5) international cooperation, and clarification of responsibilities of the state, local governments and citizens. In December 2000, the government formulated the Basic Plan for Gender Equality following the law.
    • Support to women's health, not only during pregnancy and at delivery but also throughout their life, is important in light of reproductive health/rights. With this standpoint, the Japanese government implements health care programs to address the needs of women at various life stages, including a fine-tuned counseling of women's health issues.
    • In 1997, the Labor Standard Law and the Law in Securing, etc of Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment were amended. Discrimination against women at the time of recruitment, hiring, job assignment and promotion is prohibited. Employers that violated the law will be disclosed to the public, and the mediation system was improved. Restriction on overtime, holiday and midnight work shifts for female workers were repealed in April 1999. Those measures have ensured the equal employment opportunities.
         In commemoration of the day when women got the right to vote on April 10, 1946, the week beginning on April 10 has been "Women's Week" since 1949. On this day, national conventions of women have since been held annually. The government's publicity and educational campaigns to elevate women's status have resulted in the increasing number of local governments and women's groups that are involved in the same campaigns.
         Moreover, the Japanese government opened The Center for the Advancement of Working Women (Josei to Shigoto no Miraikan) in Tokyo in January 2000. The center has organized cateer advancement seminars and counseling for empowering women, business start-up support of women, offered job information for female students and provided a variety of information for working women. The number of the visitors to the center, recipients of counseling and accesses to the center's web site are increasing.
    • In an effort to promote the empowerment of women, the Japanese government is increasing learning opportunities for women, which meets their learning needs, promoting their social participation making use of women's capacity, improving education facilities for women such as National Women's Education Center, Japan's national center for women's education, and expanding gender-equal education and activities.
    • Pre- and post-natal workers have been protected by maternity leaves, child care hours, restriction of hazardous job assignment and others. The 1997 amendment of the Labor Standard Law and the Equal Employment Opportunity Law extended the leave before childbirth from 10 weeks to 14 weeks in case more than one child are expected. The amended laws also require employers to take measures for health management of pre-and post-natal workers. The measures include granting them time for physical and other examinations and the creation of working environment where female workers can follow medical instructions based on physical and other examinations. Those measures were put into force in April 1998, strengthening the protection of female workers who need pre- and post-natal care.
  2. Challenges
    • Comprehensive programs will be implemented to promote the formation of gender-equal society under the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society and the Basic Plan for Gender Equality.
    • Educational campaigns regarding maternal and child health will be stepped up by organizing, among others, courses on pregnancy and childbirth in good health for newly weds. The ob-gyn medical system will be improved to detect and treat high-risk pregnancy at an early stage that can endanger mothers, foetuses and children. The government will also take appropriate measures to reduce the maternal mortality rate that stood at 6.1 per 100,000 live birth in 1999.
    • Every effort will be made to ensure equal employment opportunities. Programs, including career advancement seminars business start-up support of women, counselling, support to female entrepreneurs, and information services for working women, will be put into practice.
    • The Japanese government will encourage the employers to follow the maternity protection clauses of the Labor Standard Law so that female workers can keep up their health during pregnancy and after childbirth. The government will also encourage the employers to take proper measures for maternity health care required by the Equal Employment Opportunity Law.

(E) Role of the family

  1. Actions and achievements
    • With an increasing number of nuclear families and working women, family environment has been changing, and families are fulfilling fewer roles in raising children. Consequently, social services to support families are getting more and more important.
         Under such a circumstance, the Japanese government worked out "Angel Plan" as a basic guideline to address the problem of declining birthrate. Under this plan, the Five-Year Project on Urgent Day Care Measures was launched at the same time to address diversified needs for nursery care and to help parents to reconcile jobs with child rearing. The government thus improved nursery care services that are highly demanded.
         In December 1999, the Japanese government also worked out basic guidelines for mid- and long-term comprehensive programs to cope with falling birthrates. Following the guideline, an action program, "New Angel Plan," was launched at the same time, covering such priority areas as employment, nursing care, maternal and child health, education and housing. It aims at reducing heavy burden on women resulting from their work and child rearing which contributes to falling birthrate and creating an environment where women can raise children without difficulty.
         As another effort to improve the child-care environment, the guideline for nursery center and day care was amended in April 1997 to ensure proper day care systems in line with the physical and mental development of children and family and local situation. Moreover, the amendment of the Child Welfare Law in April 1998 enabled parents to select nursery centers by themselves referring to available information. Before the amendment, local governments designated the nursery centers.
         In addition, child-rearing consultation services are upgraded as part of efforts to support families raising children. For children under 10 years old whose parents are usually not in home due to their jobs, the government has organized so-called "after-school children's clubs," a facility for healthy growth of children. Under this program, children can spend time at the club located in nearby community centers for children or other public facilities after school. To support education and training at home, a starting point of all kinds of education, the government offers learning opportunities for parents themselves, information on family education, and improved consultation services.
    • The Childcare Leave Law was enacted in May 1991 and took effect on April 1992. (The law is renamed to the Law concerning The Walfare of Workers who Take Care Children or Other Family Members including Child Care Leave.) The law stipulates that (1) any workers who raise a child or children under one year old can take a child-care leave and an employers cannot refuse the request for the leave from eligible employees; (2) employers must make it easier for employees who raise a child or children under one year old to work by, among many things, reducing working hours when they choose to continue to work rather than taking a leave; and (3) employers must make efforts to take necessary measures to support employees who raise a child or children ranging from one to six years old, following the law. The 1997 amendment of the law prohibits employers from assigning late-night work to workers who are raising a preschool child or children in case that employees request it and regular business operations are not disrupted by it. The law also stipulates financial support, including subsidies, to employers that would encourage employers to keep employing those workers who are rearing children and would promote their welfare. Following the law, a variety of subsidies, include one for the employers who run in-house day-care centers, are granted.
         As the child-care leave system was established and every effort was made to promote it, those who have taken the leave accounted for 56.4 percent of all the workers who gave birth at companies that employ five or more and have the child-care leave system according to a 1999 sarvey. The figure was 49.1 percent in 1996.
  2. Challenges
    • Based upon the New Angle Plan, the government will improve and expand nursery care centers in order to ease the burden of child-rearing while holding down job or the burden of bringing up children, and to eliminate the cause for the declining birthrate.
    • As the birth rate continues to decline, it is a great challenge for the government to create an environment where workers can pursue their career without much difficulty while raising children. Every effort will also be made in order to promote the child-care leave system and to create a work environment in which workers can take child-care leave without worry and return to the previous job and hold down their job while raising children.

(F) Basic education and literacy

  1. Actions and achievements
    • Nine years of education at elementary and junior high schools are compulsory in Japan. Since the compulsory education system was inaugurated in 1947, more than 99 percent of the school age children have been enrolled constantly. In 2000, 99.98 percent of the school age children were enrolled at elementary and junior high schools.
    • There is no accurate statistic about the illiteracy rate in Japan. According to the census in 1990, those who were 15 years old or older and were not enrolled in schools totaled about 220,000 or 0.2 percent of the population at 15 or older. (0.1 percent for male and 0.3 percent for female)
  2. Challenges
    • The government has been improving the quality of education by, among others, establishing the curriculum standards, and improving the textbook system, class organizations, positioning of teaching staff and public school facilities. The government will continue such efforts to upgrade basic education.
    • With respect to adult literacy, the government has been supporting the literacy training courses organized by local governments, and has been holding study meetings of officials in charge of literacy at local boards of education in an effort to promote literacy education. The government will continue such efforts.

(G) Children in especially difficult circumstances

  1. Actions and achievements
    • Every effort has been made to detect and treat disabilities at earlier stages. For those children with disabilities who need care at special institutions, the government assists them in finding out an institution that can properly meet their degree of disabilities. Following the concept of "normalization," the government has expanded in-home welfare services, including short stay programs and home help services, under the Government Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities, so that children with disabilities are able to receive necessary assistance in their neighborhood to lead comfortable living at home and at communities. As it is important to provide consultation and advice to children with disabilities and their parents, the government enacted a law concerning counseling services for the disabled in June 2000. With the enactment, children with disabilities can get care and counseling in their neighborhood. The support to the children with disabilities was thus upgraded. Public institutions, including child consultation centers, offer consultation services. The government also gives subsidies to such services offered by private groups, including parents' groups.
    • Children with disabilities need to develop their ability in order to maximize their possibilities and stand on their own, and participate in social activities. For this end, elaborated education must be given to them under great attention and care at schools for blind, deaf and disabled children and courses for the children with learning disabilities. At those schools, special curriculums are worked out to meet the degree of students' disabilities; trained teachers and staff members are assigned; and facilities and equipment are improved to meet their disabilities.
         In 1999, the guideline for teaching at the schools for the blind, deaf and disabled was revised to provide fine-tuned education meeting the needs of individual students with diversified disabilities, social changes and others. The revision included (1) the expansion of self-supporting activities, (2) education at earlier stages, (3) the expansion of vocational training, and (4) clarification of the significance of exchange programs.
    • In order to support the sound growth of children and to prevent juvenile delinquency, facilities including playgrounds and community centers for children are developed and improved. Neighborhood activities, including mothers' clubs, are encouraged. Services at the child consultation centers and other facilities are upgraded. Guidance and education programs are expanded at facilities for supporting children's self-supporting activities.
    • Programs have been worked out to provide a home-like environment to children who need special attention, including those living with no parents. Children's homes or foster families, for example, are arranged for them.
    • Police provide special care with children who were victimized by crimes such as sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and harmful labor or by other practices that hamper their sound growth. Police set up juvenile support centers across the country where Juvenile consultants and guidance officials help victimized children recover from mental injury and alleviate their mental sufferings. Those specialists, collaborating with parents and other experts if necessary, are engaged in counseling services that are tuned to meet the needs of individual victims.
         To prevent juvenile delinquency, running away from home or suicide, and to protect juvenile victims of crimes, consultation services are provided at police headquarters, local police stations and juvenile support centers in every prefecture. In an attempt to make it easier for young people to seek police consultation, telephone counseling service known as "young telephone corner," and fax and toll-free telephone services are provided.
         Like the rest of the world, child prostitution and pornography are becoming problems in Japan as well. To crack down on such practices that violate children's rights and hamper their sound growth, the Law for Punishing Acts Related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and for Protecting Children took effect in November 1999. Police has been taking strong measures to crack down on them. To control the illegal practices of so-called "telephone clubs" and any practices against the welfare of children, police enforce the Law on Control and Improvement of Amusement and Entertainment Businesses, the Child Welfare Law and other related laws. Moreover, such practices are also controlled by local ordinances and neighborhood campaigns.
    • Bullying at schools are investigated and properly handled as cases of human rights violation by Human Rights Organs of the Ministry of Justice. They made out brochures on bullying and distribute them and organize symposiums, lecture meetings and panel discussions in an effort to eradicate bullying throughout the country. As a consequence of national public education campaigns, the seriousness of the issue and the importance of the solution of the problem are well recognized by the mass media and general public.
         From a standpoint that bullying the weak should never be allowed as a human being, the Ministry of Education urges the boards of education to intensively address the problem and resolve it at schools. In an effort to turn schools into enjoyable places, the ministry also urges schools to introduce easier-to-understand teaching methods and to let students feel the sense of achievement. At the same time, the ministry guides schools to expand moral education to foster, among others, law-abidingness, to upgrade teachers' ability by organizing training sessions on life guidance, to improve consultation systems by increasing the number of school counselors and specialists in psychiatric care, and to promote measures to foster collaboration among schools, families and communities.
         For its part, the police try to find out real facts behind bullying cases and properly treat bullies. At the same time, efforts are made to prevent recurrences of bullying cases. Among the measures under study or implementation are upgrading juvenile consultation, earlier detection of bullying incidents with cooperation of residents, elaborated follow-up care in accordance with the personal character of the victims and the degree of environmental and mental damages, and provision of the findings from the investigations into bullying cases.
    • To cope with drug abuse problems, utmost efforts are made to cut off the supply by rounding up drug smugglers by shoreline operations. The government will also promote international cooperation with the law-enforcement authorities in the suppliers' countries. Agricultural technologies for alternative crops are also transferred to countries that are sources of the drug supply. With a policy to repress demands for drugs and to cultivate an unforgiving public attitude against drug abuse, efforts are continuously made to detect and arrest drug abusers, to conduct preventive education and publicity and to prevent recurrences of the misconduct.
         As part of public relations and educational efforts against drug abuse, "No, Absolutely, No!" campaign and a campaign to eradicate illicit narcotics and stimulants were conducted. Moreover, anti-drug abuse caravans were sent to high schools to help their anti-drug abuse lessons. Former narcotics control officers were also deployed to schools to raise students' awareness of drug abuse problems. At least once a year, all the junior and senior high schools across the country are encouraged to hold a anti-drug lesson that is part of the five-year plan to prevent drug abuse worked out by the anti-drug abuse headquarters of the government. The government guideline for teaching was also revised requiring schools to give special lessons on drug abuse problems. Other publicity and educational efforts included preparing and distributing guidance materials for teachers and teaching materials, organizing symposiums, and publicity utilizing the large-size displays at sport stadiums.
         To expand drug consultation programs, mental health and welfare centers in prefectures were added to the list of the community health centers providing consultation services.
    • Juveniles are not allowed to smoke by the Law for Prohibiting Smoking to Minors. A 1998 survey on smoking and health found that 19.0 percent of the male and 4.3 percent of female aged between 15 and 19 have smoked cigarettes. Under such a circumstance, Japan steps up a drive to eliminate juvenile smoking as well as alcohol drinking and launched "National Health Promotion in the 21st century (Health Japan 21)" in March 2000. Other measures include a symposium on prevention of teen smoking held to commemorate the World No-Smoking Day, and public education programs on the affect of smoking through the Internet and other media.
         Those under 20 years old are not allowed to drink by the Law for Prohibiting Liquors to Minors. A 1997 survey on drinking among minors found that one in two third-year senior-high male students consumed alcohol once or twice a month. As drinking can cause negative affects physically and mentally to minors, it is important to provide both adults and minors appropriate information on the alcohol's effects on health. At mental health and welfare centers located in every prefecture, comprehensive measures including publicity and consultations are taken to prevent alcohol-related problems. Moreover, various organizations concerned conduct measures to address drinking problems among minors following the policy guideline on prohibiting alcohol drinking among minors and fair business environment of alcohol sales decided by the Cabinet in August 2000.
         Other measures include the production of video tapes and films featuring the affect of tobacco and alcohol to health, the preparation and distribution of guidance material on smoking and drinking, and the revision of the government guidelines for teaching.
    • In recent years, child abuse has been getting worse in Japan, and detecting them at an early stage and taking measures to stop abusing as well as proper protection of abused children have become an urgent task for the nation. In January 2000, a law was enacted for prevention of child abuse.
    • To address the problems of children in especially difficult circumstances, the Japanese government designated vicious and violent delinquency, bullying and violence, drug abuse and child abuse as priority issues to be addressed immediately under the guideline for sound development of the youth, a basic juvenile policy of Japan.
  2. Challenges
    • Under the framework of the Plan for People with Disabilities the care system for children with disabilities will be upgraded by effectively combining in-home and institutional cares.
    • The educational issues for students with disabilities will be addressed so that they meet the needs of students with diversified disabilities and changes of educational concepts for students with special needs, including that of "normalization." The areas to be focused will be (1) the establishment of the integrated consultation and support system jointly operated by medical, welfare and labor institutions covering various phases of problems, (2) the improvement of education at the schools for blind, deaf and disabled children in collaboration with welfare and medical institutions, (3) the improvement of education for children with learning disabilities, and (4) upgrading of the special knowledge and skills of teachers involved in education for students with special needs.
    • Police will step up crackdown on child prostitution and pornography and measures against them will actively be implemented. In December 2001, Japan will host an the Second World Congress Against Commercial, Sexual Exploitation Of Children.
    • In addition to ordinary programs to tackle bullying at schools by Human Rights Organs of the Ministry of Justice, promotion activities against bullying using themes and terms easier to understand for elementary and junior high school students will be staged across the country. The Organs will try to resolve surfaced problems quickly and appropriately in concert with schools and other educational institutions.
    • The situation is quite grave now. Cautiousness against and resistance to drugs are seriously decreasing among young people and feeling less resistance to drug and consequently the abuse of illegal drugs is proliferating. It is necessary that education and activities against drug abuse should be further strengthened at schools, homes and communities.
    • With respect to alcoholic drinking among young people, one of problems is the prevailing alcohol ads and easy access to alcohol at convenience stores and other places. Parties concerned will double their efforts to create an environment in which minors can hardly get access to alcohol. Further efforts will be made in the fields of medicine and mental health, and consultation system on minor's drinking will be strengthened.
    • The measures against child abuse will be strengthened while properly enforcing the law concerning the prevention of child abuse.

(H) International cooperation

  1. Actions and achievements
    • Bilateral assistance
         Japan has been actively providing its official development assistance to the social development sector. In 1999, about 20 percent of the bilateral official development assistance was allocated to this sector. Since 1991, Japan has been the world's top donor.
         Assistance in education, public health and population sectors, aiming at the improvement of maternal and child health, welfare, and basic education, has been provided mainly under the grant aid and technical cooperation. In 1999, it amounted to 1,572.57 million dollars (on a commitment basis) or 11.4 percent of the bilateral ODA. In particular, the average of grant aid in health and medical care projects amounted to about 15 percent in average of the general grant aids for projects from 1994 to 1998. The number of experts dispatched for technical transfer and human resource development in this sector was about 16 percent, and the number of trainees about 17 percent of the total in the same period. In the field of health and medical care, population, family planning, and primary and secondary education, project-type technical cooperation which consists of dispatching experts, receiving trainees and providing equipment, has been implemented and the Japan Overseas Cooperative Volunteers have been also dispatched. In the field of education, a grant aid of 182.6 million yen was provided to build elementary and secondary schools.
         Under the grant assistance for grassroot projects and NGO subsidy framework, the government supports NGOs and local governments which conduct projects at grassroot level in the field of Basic Human Needs. Among the Grant Assistance for Grassroot Projects in 1998, projects in medical and public health sector and education sector totaled 686 with 3,811 million yen, approximately 66.9 percent of the total amount Grant Assistance for Grassroot Projects.
         Japan is also making efforts to address the issues of children as part of its contribution to global issues. Under the Common Agenda between Japan and the United States (Common Agenda for Cooperation in Global Perspective) which was launched in 1993, Japan has been promoting international cooperation in the fields of population, AIDS and children's health: Support has been provided to combat with infectious diseases including AIDS, to promote basic health and medical care for mothers and children, and population and family planning, and to make efforts to eradicate polio from the earth.
         In the field of population and AIDS, Japan announced the Global Issues Initiatives (GII) on Population and AIDS in February 1994, projecting to spend three billion dollars by the fiscal year 2000. In five years up to 1998, Japanese government spent about 3.7 billion dollars, more than the projected amount.
         In the field of children's health, eradicating polio from the earth is the top priority issue. The initiative turned out to be successful in the Western Pacific area where Japan has taken initiatives as the priority area. The area was declared free of indigenous wild polio virus by WHO in October 2000. Working towards the global target to eradicate it from the earth by 2005, Japan is expanding its assistance to the efforts in south Asia and Africa, spending 3,791 million yen in 1999.
         Of 1.3 billion people living under the poverty line in the world, 70 percent are women. Women are placed in vulnerable positions in education, employment and health. In order to maintain a balanced, sustainable development in developing countries, it is necessary to ensure for gender-balanced development projects and to draw some benefits from them. With such a perspective, Japan announced WID Initiative in 1995, declaring that Japan will put emphasis on education, health, and economic and social activities for women in implementing its development assistance.
         When G8 Kyushu and Okinawa summit was held in July 2000, the leaders of the world leading countries agreed to start a battle against infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB), and malaria that hamper social economic development in developing countries. They agreed to set goals and implement it under "New Partnership" of advanced and developing nations, international institutions and civil society. On the occasion of the summit, Japan announced as the chair and leading donor the "Okinawa Infectious Desease Initiative (IDI)" for enhancing its assistance, with the target of allocating a total of three billion dollars over the next 5 years, for measures against infectious and parasitic diseases including HIV/AIDS. In December 2000, as a follow-up to the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit, "Okinawa International Conference on Initiatives Diseases" was held attended by representatives of G8 nations, developing countries, international organizations and NGOs. They discussed ways how to function and strengthen the "New Partnership."
    • Cooperation through international organizations
      1. Japan makes financial contribution to United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), a leading organization for the children's issues, since 1952. In 1999, Japan contributed 25,229,000 dollars to the regular resources of UNICEF, which is the sixth largest contribution of the world. In addition to the contribution to regular resources, Japan has been making contributions for specific purposes. Since 1995, Japan has contributed one million dollars to support UNICEF's program for girl education in Asia. Japan has also extended financial contributions for the emergency program of UNICEF, such as humanitarian assistance to East Timor in 1999, and the program for rebuilding schools in Kosovo in 2000.
           Moreover, Japan has been extending assistance under the multilateral-bilateral aid scheme with the UNICEF, whereby bilateral aid by Japan and multilateral aid by UNICEF complement each other's resources in order to improve aid efficiency.
           In fiscal year 1999, Japan contributed roughly 430 million yen to buy vaccines and equipment to 14 countries in Africa and Asia Pacific regions under the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI).
      2. Cooperation in health and sanitary fields
           Japan, collaborating with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and other donor nations and institutions, has been extending contribution to international health programs, including those on tuberculosis and expanding immunization and polio eradication. In particular, Japan played a leading role to eradicate polio in the western Pacific region. Japan is also active in HIV/AIDS programs. About 600 million yen has annually been contributed to the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) since its establishment.
      3. Cooperation in Women in Development (WID) and gender field
           Japan is making efforts to expand its development aid in light of WID concept through the United Nations Development Program and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). In 1995, Japan established the Japan WID Fund within the UNDP to support women in developing countries, and has contributed about 11,020 million dollars in total by 1999. The Fund supports programs for gender equality and the empowerment of women, giving priority to such fields as education, health and economic and social participation. For example, the Fund was used for micro financing to women in Cambodia in an effort to eradicate poverty and elevate women's economic status. The results were that women got stable income sources, and the school enrollment of children increased by about nine percent as the number of children who were forced to work decreased. The fund was also used to support a seminar on education of girls held as part of Guatemala's national programs to improve primary education for girls.
           Japan is also supporting activities of IFAD which pays attention to roles of women in rural development. In particular, Japan intends to extend assistance to programs in gender-related areas. In 1995, Japan established "Special Contribution for Women in Development" in IFAD and has so far contributed 4,450,000 dollars to this special fund and approved 27 projects. They include a study to add gender concept to the IFAD-financed programs, organizing workshops and symposiums, building a data base to make the accumulated information and knowledge available to public, and a study on micro-financing which is regarded by IFDA as an effective means to alleviate poverty. In July 1999, a symposium "Asian Crisis and Rural Poverty" was successfully held in Tokyo.
      4. Cooperation in education
           Japan has been extending its cooperation in the area of education through the following trust funds at UNESCO: (1) the Funds-in-Trust for the Promotion of Literacy (44 million yen in fiscal year 2000) and the Funds-in-Trust of Community Literacy Centers (20 million yen in fiscal year 2000) under the Asia-Pacific Program of Education for All (APPEAL), which is a program for promoting literacy and primary education in the Asia Pacific region, (2) the Funds-in-trust for Mobile Training Teams (9 million yen in fiscal year 2000) under the Asia and the Pacific Program of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID) which aims at strengthening education cooperation among countries in the region and supporting developing countries to improve their education systems and contents and methods of education, and (3) the Funds-in-trust for the Preventive Education against AIDS (7.1 million yen in fiscal year 2000) as part of assistance to educational projects for preventing AIDS/HIV, etc.
    • Cooperation through NGOs
         Japan has been providing financial assistance to Japanese NGOs which are engaged in grass-root activities in medical, health and educational fields that contribute to the improvement of maternal and child health, welfare and education. They are implemented under such programs as NGO Subsidy framework and grant assistance for grassroots projects. Those programs help NGOs carry out fine-tuning of assistance at recipient countries. In the fiscal year 1999, roughly 373.223 million yen was spent for NGO Subsidy framework and some 387.1 million yen as grant assistance for grassroots projects.
  2. Challenges
    • Bilateral assistance
         In the social development sector, Japan's assistance is playing extremely important roles in basic education, and health and medical care. The concept of WID is also important in extending assistance. Japan's grant aid and technical cooperation will continue to be directed to those fields. In addition, priority will also be given to efforts to address global issues and to improve children's status. Japan, therefore, closely examines national action programs of developing countries. In light of the above, Japan will provide the following forms of support.
      1. Basic education
        -- In addition to hardware-oriented assistance for the construction of schools and provision of equipment and materials, Japan will upgrade its advisory assistance in both the areas of course development and educational administration, including assistance for the enhancement of system and capacity building in school administration, curriculum and teaching materials development.
        -- Japan will pay special attention to supporting basic education for girls.
        -- Active efforts will be made to utilize resources of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers and to promote cooperation with NGOs in order to enhance activities to enlighten local communities which are main actors of development, as well as to promote community participation in the implementation of assistance projects.
        -- Efforts will be made to ensure that assistance for basic education contributes to the improvement of job training and worker capacities in response to local needs and conditions.
      2. Health and medical care
        -- Japan will continue to provide both hardware-oriented assistance and advisory assistance to core institutions of medical and health care systems
        -- Japan, putting an emphasis on primary health care, will provide assistance for the creation of health and medical systems that are geared toward providing basic health care services to the largest possible number of people.
        -- Japan will make maximum use of its own experiences to assist governments of developing countries in policy formulation and improved capacity building in line with their needs and conditions, and will promote improved health and medical policies through policy dialogues.
        -- To effect sustainable cooperation, Japan will actively pursue community participation and collaboration with NGOs.
        -- In view of the fact that economic crises most seriously affect the vulnerable members of society and their health, Japan will endeavor to prevent the erosion of past achievements in the area of health care.
      3. Global issues (health care)
           The population growth of the world is directly linked to the problems of poverty, unemployment, starvation, lack of education, and deterioration of the environment, particularly in many developing countries. Similarly, the international spread of HIV/AIDS presents a serious obstacle to development in developing countries by severely undermining people's health. In response to these problems, Japan announced the launching of its "Global Issues Initiative on Population and AIDS" (GII) in 1994 and has been actively involved in these fields. In addition, Japan has enhanced its measures for infectious diseases conform under "Okinawa Infectious Diseases Initiative" announced on the occasion of Kyushu-Okinawa Summit, Japan is also contributing to the international fight against AIDS, primarily through its support of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). In light of the above, Japan will provide the following forms of support to global health care issues.
        -- From the perspective of reproductive health, Japan will work on a comprehensive approach that includes: direct assistance for population control and family planning; indirect assistance through the provision of primary health care services and elementary and secondary education for women and children; and support for the empowerment of women.
        -- As these initiatives necessitate finely tuned efforts, Japan will further its collaboration with local governments and NGOs.
        -- With regard to AIDS, Japan will promote its cooperation based on "Okinawa Infectious Diseases Initiative" and further its cooperation with UNAIDS, and thus contribute to the international fight against AIDS. Japan will also strengthen its bilateral collaboration with other major donor countries and with international organizations.
    • Cooperation through international institutions
      1. Japan was the sixth largest financial contributor to the regular resources of UNICEF in 1999, which accounted for 7.35 percent of the total income to the regular resources of UNICEF. Japan has been contributing 17.981 percent of the United Nations budget since 1998. In light of the above, Japan intends to make contribution in line with its economic scale and continues to support UNICEF as much as possible. In addition to the contribution to the regular resources of UNICEF, Japan is seeking to strengthen multilateral-bilateral cooperation, whereby bilateral aid by Japan and multilateral aid by UNICEF complement each other's resources in order to improve aid efficiency.
      2. In order to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency in ODA implementation, it is necessary for Japan to develop closer ties of collaboration and cooperation with other donor countries and international organizations. Such initiatives must go beyond the avoidance of redundancy in aid and must aim at achieving significant synergy. In this process, it is also important to assist developing countries to enhance their coordinating capacities as aid recipients. In light of the above, due attention will be paid to the following points.
        -- As a leading contributor of funds to international organizations, Japan will endeavor to take greater initiative and to influence the management of these organizations in the direction of its basic policies.
        -- Japan will pursue the possibility of collaboration and cooperation with international organizations in fields where they are especially experienced and enjoy advantages.
        -- With regard to the coordination of ODA programs, Japan will continue to participate in and contribute to existing coordination mechanisms, including sector programs coordination, which center on international organizations, taking into consideration the primary role of recipient countries.
        -- Japan will actively promote cooperation through collaboration and the exchange of information and opinions with governments of recipient countries, other donor countries, and aid agencies. Japan will also pursue this objective through bilateral consultation with other donor countries, such as through the Japan-US Common Agenda, and through collaboration with international organizations.
      3. With regard to cooperation in education, Japan continues to collaborate closely with UNESCO and support the efforts of developing countries to achieve EFA targets.
    • Support to NGOs
         Utilizing the above-mentioned aid programs, Japan continues to attach greater importance to the partnership with NGOs and will make efforts to increase support to them.
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