II. Information on Individual Articles of The Covenant

Article 24

The legal framework in Japan pertaining to the rights stipulated in this Article, and the actual receipt thereof are as described in the " Initial Report of the Convention on the Rights of the Child" . The major portions pertaining to the Third Periodic Report on this Convention are as specified below.

(a) The Right to Acquire Nationality (The Initial Report of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 7, portion)

The " Nationality Law" of Japan adopts, in principle, the bilineal jus sanguinis principle. It stipulates that a child shall be a Japanese national when, at the time of birth of the child, the father or the mother is a Japanese national ((1) of Article 2 of the " Nationality Law" ). However, as there is a possibility that a child born in Japan may become stateless if this principle is applied rigidly, the jus soli principle is also adopted to prevent statelessness. In other words, a child shall be a Japanese national if the child is born in Japan and both parents are unknown or have no nationality ((3) of Article 2 of the " Nationality Law" ).

Though this may still be insufficient to prevent a child from becoming stateless under certain limited circumstances, a child may acquire Japanese nationality by naturalization if he/she was born in Japan, has no nationality since the time of birth, and had his/her domicile in Japan for three or more years consecutively since that time under (4) of Article 8 of the " Nationality Law" . As in case of naturalization of a stateless child, the conditions on capacity and capability to make a living are exempted from and the domiciliary condition is alleviated, the child can acquire Japanese nationality very easily.

(b) The Right to Maintain Personal Relations for a Child Separated from One or Both Parents (Initial Report of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 9, portion)

Meetings and correspondence are basically allowed with a child who is separated from one or both of its parents, or in concrete terms, a child of which one or both parents are, or who itself is, detained in an immigration center, a Juvenile Training School, a Juvenile Classification Home, a prison, mental hospital and so on. In an immigration center, maximum freedom is guaranteed in so far as it does not pose a threat to the security of the center (Paragraph 7 of Article 61 of the " Immigration Control and Refugee-Recognition Law" and Articles 34 and 37 of the " Regulations for Treatment of Prisoner" refer).

(c) School Rules (The Initial Report of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 28, portion)

Corporal punishment is prohibited strictly under Article 11 of the " School Education Law" in Japan. The Ministry of Education gives instructions to educational institutions to realize the principle of this law in every possible opportunities.

The human rights organs under the Ministry of Justice, if they receive such reports or information on corporal punishment, investigate the cases suspected to have infringed upon human rights through hearing explanations from the people concerned. After investigation, they enlighten (with " instruction" or " warning" ) the teacher, the principal of the school and others on human rights of children and request them to take measures to prevent the repetition of such acts. Furthermore, they carry out activities for enlightenment in cooperation with schools and local communities. In 1994 and 1995, among all cases involving infringement upon human rights (16,035 cases in 1994 and 16,296 cases in 1995), cases of corporal punishment numbered 89 and 111, respectively.