Japan Press Weekly

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2020 June 10 - 16 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

International human rights NGO proposes law revision to criminalize 'sex without consent'

The international human rights NGO Human Rights Now (HRN) on June 11 proposed its own amendments to the Penal Code in order to criminalize "sex without consent".

Their draft revision will be submitted to a Justice Ministry committee where discussions on the criminal law revision began in June.

In sex crime cases, the existing Penal Code requires victims to prove that they were "physically assaulted or threatened". Under the HRN draft revision, every act of sexual intercourse “against their will” will constitute a crime with a penalty of more than five years imprisonment.

The HRN draft revision adds "coercion, surprise attack, fraudulent means, and confinement" to the conventional "against their will" patterns: "physical violence and threats".

HRN representative and lawyer Teramachi Toko said, "Our NGO thought it important to establish the clear principle that sex against one's will is a crime."

Past related articles:
> Justice Ministry survey: Half of unindicted rape cases not recognized as forced or coerced rape [April 3, 2020]
> Appeals court scraps acquittal of a man accused of raping his daughter [March 13, 2020]
> JCP Fujino calls for revision of Penal Code in order to protect mentally-handicapped from sexual abuse [December 2, 2019]
> Protest against sexual violence take place in 10 locations nationwide [June 12, 2019]
> Sex crime victims demand that sex without consent be punished as crime [May 14, 2019]