14.Article 16
| (1) | Study on amendment to Civil Code |
| The Legislative Council, an advisory organ to the Minister of Justice, which had been studying the review of the provisions of the Civil Code pertaining to marriage etc. since January 1991, submitted an "Outline of a Bill to Revise a Part of the Civil Code" to the Minister in February 1996. Of the revisions mentioned in the outline, those pertaining to gender equality are as follows; | |
| Public opinion on this issue is divided, and according to a "public opinion survey" conducted by the Prime Minister's Office in June 1996, it is still difficult to state that amendment to Civil Code receives majority support. But, compared to the result of the previous public opinion survey, such characteristics exist as the increase of support, mainly among the younger generation. Therefore, the Government will further study the amendment taking into consideration future trend of public opinions.
1) Minimal age for marriage The current law sets the minimal age for marriage at 18 for men and at 16 for women. The Outline calls for setting the minimal age at 18 for both men and women. 2)Period required for women to remarry after divorce or cancellation of former marriage The current law requires six months. The Outline calls for setting such a period at 100 days, the minimum period required to avoid confusion as to the paternity of children born after the re-marriage. 3)Surnames of married couples The current law states that a married couple has to adopt either one of their surnames as their common surname. The Outline calls for allowing married couples to choose at the time of marriage whether to adopt either one of their surnames or to continue to use their respective surname. | |
| (2) | Domestic Violence |
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1) Violence between husband and wife As domestic violence such as husband's violence against wife can easily be latent the police has been giving counsel and advice on not only violence itself but also the problems of the couple leading to violence on request basis. Violence, even if committed within a family, is not immune from application of penal provisions, such as battery, bodily injury, false arrest and imprisonment, indecent assault and rape, and these penal provisions have been appropriately enforced.
Women's organizations in the private sector offer emergency shelters at around 20 places across the countries to wives suffering from violence by husbands. 2) Child abuse The police has its women staff members offer advice and accept reports of injuries in case of abuses against girls so that such girls do not feel uncomfortable in reporting injuries. And if an incident is identified, the police take the appropriate measures to rescue such girls in cooperation with other organizations concerned. |