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The age of consent is the legal age at which an individual is deemed capable enough of consenting to sexual activity.As of now, Japan has the lowest age of consent in developed countries as well as among the G7 countries where 13-year-old children are old enough to consent.
A Japanese justice ministry panel proposed raising the age of consent in the country from 13 to 16. Notably, the age of consent in the Asian country is the lowest among the Group of seven nations (G7)and has remained unchanged since its enactment over a century ago. This comes as the panel proposed a package of reforms which would clarify rape prosecution requirements as well as criminalise voyeurism. Furthermore, it would also criminalise the grooming of minors and expand the definition of rape.
What is the age of consent?
The age of consent is the legal age at which an individual is deemed capable enough of consenting to sexual activity. The aim is to protect adolescents and young adults from sexual abuse and the consequences of engaging in early sexual intercourseon their rights and development, as per the United Nations.
If an adult engages in any type of sexual activity with someone below the determined age of consent by the state they are committing a crime. Furthermore, when sexual intercourse is agreed to by both parties, it would be considered statutory rape, since the individual is still a minor and too young to consent.
What are the current laws?
As of now, Japan has the lowest age of consent in developed countries, as13-year-old children are deemed old enough to consent which alsomeans sexual activity with them is not considered statutory rape. However, sexual intercourse with a person under 13 is illegal regardless of consent while intercourse with a person aged 13 to 15 will be punished if the perpetrator is five or more years older, as per Japanese laws.
In practice, there are several regions in the country which have banned “lewd” acts with minors which is the closest thing to the age of consent being 18 in Japan. However, they do not lead to harsh sentences and significantly lighter penalties than rape charges while also terming sex with children “unethical” conduct as opposed to a crime, said Kazuna Kanajiri, an activist fighting against p*rnography and sexual exploitation, to AFP.
The head of the Tokyo-based group PAPS also said thatthe current laws leave room for perpetrators to “shift blame to the victims, and argue that sex was initiated or enjoyed by the children”.
Additionally, since the age of consent is low it has also meant that teen rape survivors are held at the same level for prosecuting perpetrators as adults do. According to the current Japanese criminal law, the victim needs to meet two conditions, in order to secure a conviction.
In what is often referred to as one of the most controversial provisions, the sex must be non-consensual and the prosecution must be able to prove that the rape perpetratorused “violence and intimidation” and that it was “impossible to resist”.
However, critics have argued that this condition effectively blames victims for not resisting enough and said that during an assault survivors can freeze or in some cases even submit to avoid further injury, reported AFP.
What is the proposed reform?
Earlier this month, a panel of the Japanese Justice Ministry proposed a number of reforms which included raising the age of consent from 13 to 16, in part, to a wider overhaul of Japan’s sex crime legislation. One of the provisions also said that teenagers who are not more than five years apart in age would be exempt from prosecution if both partners are over 13.
However, there is no clarity on whether the wording of the proposal addresses drugging, catching victims off-guard and psychologically controlling them. According to a justice ministry official, Yusuke Asanuma, the clarification is not “make it easier or harder” to secure rape convictions but they hope that the verdicts in such cases will become “more consistent”, reported AFP.
Additionally, they have also called for the statute of limitations for reporting rape to increasefrom 10 years to 15 years for sexual violence against minors, to allow them more time to come forward. The council which advises the justice minister has also sought to make the act of secretly photographing an individual’s sexual body parts as well asintercourse andproviding such images to other people, a punishable offence.
What prompted this change?
The proposed overhaul comes after mounting criticism and backlash which say that currentlaws are inadequate to protect children from rape and other sexual offences. Notably, the age of consent in Japan has not changed since 1907. However, it was after several acquittals, in 2019, which led to widespread protests.
At the time, thousands had taken to the streets of Japan across multiple cities and urged reform of the country’s sex crime laws. One of the cases included a father accused of repeatedly raping his 19-year-old daughter whowas acquitted. According to reports, this was after the court had concluded that the intercourse was non-consensual, but since there was no definitive proof that the daughter had been unable to resist, the perpetrator was freed. This also sparked anger and renewed calls for “the crime of rape as all non-consensual sexual intercourse”. However, he was later sent to prison after prosecutors appealed.
Previous amendments
The recent proposal comes months after adraft wasreleased called for merging constructive forcible sexual intercourse with forcible sexual intercourse and constructive indecent assault with indecent assault, reported the Japan Times. The proposal also sought to makesexual activity by making it difficult for the individual to refuse through any one of the eight acts by the perpetrator a punishable offence. The acts in question included assault or threat, causing mental or physical disorder and denying the victim the opportunity to refuse.
In October, when it was being amended, some members of the subcommittee noted that this could be perceived as victims being obligated “to express refusal.” Therefore, it was later changed to “making it difficult for the victim to form, express or fulfil the intention not to consent,” or taking advantage of such a situation, as per media reports.
What’s the age of consent across different countries?
Most developed countries have set the age of consent between 14 to 16. According to reports, Nigeria has the lowest age of consent across the world at 11 years which is followed by Angola at 12 years. On the other hand, in countries like the United Kingdom the age of consent is 16, in Greece and France it is 15 and 14 in Germany, and Italy. The age of consent in the United States varies depending on the state but in a majority of them, it is 16 years of age and 17 or 18 in others.
Meanwhile, the highest age of consent is reportedly in Bahrain at 21. In Europe, the lowest minimum age is 14 years, set in seven European Union (EU) member nations which include Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Portugal. On the other hand, the highest is set at 18 years in Malta, as per the EU agency for fundamental rights.
Notably, it was not until 2015 that Spain raised its age of consent from 13 to 16.In India, the age of consent was 16 from 1940 until 2012 butwas raised by thePrevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Actto 18 years, which is among the highest across the world.
(With inputs from agencies)
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