Despite the post-World War II Constitution that renounced the “use of force as means of settling international disputes”, in July Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed through the House of Representatives new legislation that would allow Japan’s self-defence forces to join collective military actions overseas. Negative public reaction opposing the legislation included one of the largest demonstrations in decades. The Japanese and South Korean governments reached a settlement on the military sexual slavery system before and during World War II; the outcome was severely criticized by survivors. Executions of people on death row continued.

Discrimination – ethnic minorities

Despite a 2014 recommendation by the CERD Committee , the ruling coalition opposed legislation prohibiting racial discrimination. A group of national lawmakers nonetheless submitted a bill to the Parliament that would require the government to create anti-discrimination programmes. Discussion of the bill began in August. With the increase of demonstrations targeting ethnic Koreans, some municipal governments, including Osaka, proposed ordinances to curb hate speech against foreigners and minorities.

Refugees and asylum-seekers

Concerns around the refugee application process continued. The Ministry of Justice granted refugee status to only 11 people out of more than 5,000 applicants in 2014. In June the Ministry unveiled plans to introduce a pre-screening procedure to exclude “ineligible” applicants from entering the process, claiming that people seeking job opportunities accounted for the increased numbers of applications for asylum. Criteria for qualification were not clearly specified. In August, a man from Sri Lanka filed another lawsuit against the Ministry, which continued to refuse him refugee status despite an Osaka District Court ruling in his favour. This was the first time that a government refusal to follow a court decision on refugee status resulted in a second lawsuit.

Migrant workers’ rights

The government maintained tight restrictions on immigration and announced plans to expand further the existing Technical Intern Training Program to bring in more foreign workers. The Program was subject to abuse by employers, resulting in forced labour, lack of effective oversight or protection for workers, and other human rights abuses. As of June, some 180,000 foreigners worked under the Program.

Rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people

In April, the Shibuya ward in Tokyo became the first municipality in Japan to pass an ordinance that would acknowledge same-sex unions as equivalent to marriage. Registered same-sex partners would be offered non-legally binding certification, and have visitation rights in hospitals and the ability to co-sign tenancy agreements. The Setagaya ward in Tokyo adopted similar guidelines in July, while cities outside Tokyo announced possible future arrangements for same-sex partnerships.

Violence against women and girls

On the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Prime Minister Abe expressed grief, but only referred to apologies made by former heads of government. The government reached an agreement with South Korea in December and acknowledged Japan’s deep responsibility for the military sexual slavery system before and during the war, which resulted in women and girls being forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army. The outcome was criticized as the agreement did not take into account the views and needs of survivors and they were not involved in the negotiations.

Freedom of expression

The Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets, which came into effect in December 2014, contained provisions that could violate the right to access information held by public authorities. Critics of the Act stressed that the government could withhold information without clear designation criteria, that parliamentary committees overseeing the designation of secrets were too weak, and that journalists risked imprisonment for soliciting and reporting information designated as secrets. At the end of the year the government had yet to set up an independent oversight mechanism that would include whistleblower provisions and could effectively prevent abuse of the Act.

Justice system

A bill revising the criminal procedure law to require video or audio recording of interrogations by police or prosecutors in their entirety was passed at the House of Representatives in August, but had not been discussed at the House of Councillors by the end of the year. The proposed law was applicable only to “serious crimes” to be tried under the lay judge system, approximately 2% of all criminal cases. It also failed to abolish or reform the daiyo kangoku system, which allows the police to detain suspects for up to 23 days prior to charge, facilitating torture and other ill-treatment in order to extract confessions during interrogation.