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Paper short abstract

This presentation focuses on Japan’s position in the emerging landscape of children’s rights by examining the national reception of the transnational children’s rights movement, particularly with regard to the 1924 Geneva Declaration.

Paper long abstract

The first part of this presentation will cover the Meiji period and the emergence of the issue of child abuse through the beginning of awareness of the problem, through calls for action and the taking of responsibility by an individual who conducted a survey of prisoners in a prison, linking delinquency and abuse in childhood. The issue of child abuse was brought to public attention through the prism of prevention, with the aim of protecting society as a whole from delinquency and crime, rather than with the aim of taking children's rights into account, as is the case today.

The second part will focus on the Taishō period and the emergence of the problem of child abuse in the public eye and the urgency of the situation, which was highlighted at the time. In addition to a change in the categories of child abuse, which now included sexual violence, research conducted by Japanese members, comparing Japan and England in terms of the handling of child abuse, was decisive in the establishment of child protection measures that followed shortly afterwards. These years marked a change, initiated by attempts at regulation by various actors, and the preconditions for the implementation of policies that emerged a few years later.

Finally, the last part will focus on the beginning of the Shōwa period and the creation of child protection, as well as the establishment of a legal framework, which was not without difficulties. In these three parts, we will see how civil society and various actors influenced the landscape of the fight against child abuse, enabling the development of not only a legal framework, but also social services tailored to a vulnerable and needy population, namely children. We will thus see more broadly how the subject of sexual violence against children itself has been understood and how the framework for combating child abuse has been formed through the creation of child protection.