Punishing children in Japan

GENEVA — The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child urged Japan to fully ban corporal punishment against children in all settings including at school and in the home. The committee on Thursday issued the results of its review on Japan’s implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its optional protocols.

The committee concluded that prohibition of corporal punishment in the schools “is not effectively implemented” and that such punishment in the home and in alternative care settings “is not fully prohibited by law.”

Recently, 10-year-old Mia Kurihara was found dead at her home in Noda, Chiba Prefecture — leading to the arrest of her parents on suspicion of assault. Kirsten Sandberg, a committee member, urged Japan to review its laws for punishing child abuse and said the country must change its attitude toward abuse.