COMMITTEE: UN Women #1

COUNTRY: Japan
TOPIC: Violence Against Women and Child Marriage
SCHOOL: Houston Academy for International Studies
SPONSOR(S): Kimberley Chandler
NAME(S): Emily Tobias
Violence Against Women and Child Marriage
Child marriage happens all over the world to young girls known as child brides. It
perpetuates the cycle of poverty, increases pregnancy at a young age, and is an extreme
violation of human rights. Sadly this is not the only pressing concern of girls worldwide. Four
in five victims of domestic violence are women. This is because of the societal myth, believed
to be true in many countries, that women are inferior to men. Many woman are beaten,
trafficked without their knowledge, and even murdered because of their gender. To fight child
marriage The UN has enacted Girls Not Brides plan. Several countries have adopted this
resolution including, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, and Yemen. In addition to this the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is a suggestion for a resolution
to domestic violence. Unfortunately it has yet to take action.
In Japan 11 percent of women say they have been abused by the opposite sex. In 2001
lawmakers tried to criminalize domestic violence with the Act on the Prevention of Spousal
Violence law. This law creates punishment for the abuser such as up to one year in prison and
fines up to $10,000. The UN has also come up with the Womens Empowerment Principles.
This endorses the equality of genders and the independence of women. In return Japans Prime
Minister stated in a speech that he aims at a society in which working women can forge their
own careers, and in which men and women find it easy to reconcile jobs and child-rearing.
Japan has also enacted Act No. 73, art 2, item 5 which now bans repeated phone calls, and
faxing but emailing does not count as stalking.
Japan is planning on preventing spousal violence by making the population more aware.
We will double the advertisements on television and billboards. We advise other countries to
make laws that will make it harder for these abusers to get away with this. Also to make it
mandatory in public schools that students are to go to a workshop on the effects of domestic
abuse and why it is wrong. This will educate the future generation and help stop the cycle of
victims. In addition, education is a key part in stopping child marriage. So to ensure the
prevention of early marriage we will be building schools all over Japan with little cost to the
students.
Works Cited
What Is Domestic Violence? http://ncadv.org/learn-more/what-is-domestic-violence
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Safehorizon https://www.safehorizon.org/get-informed/domestic-violence-statisticsfacts/#our-impact/ Iron Paper 2016
International Center for Research on Women http://www.icrw.org/what-wedo/adolescents/child-marriage 2015 ICRW