Japan

There is no publicly available government data on child marriage in Japan.

Child marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that women and girls are somehow inferior to men and boys.

There is limited information on child marriage in Japan.

Japan has committed to ending child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The government submitted a Voluntary National Review at the 2021 High Level Political Forum. However, there was no mention of child marriage. The government has not submitted a Voluntary National Review in any High Level Political Forum since.

During its Voluntary National Review at the 2017 High Level Political Forum, the government noted that child marriage is a challenge in developing countries.

Japan has co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolutions on child marriage: the 2013 procedural resolution on child, early and forced marriage; the 2015 resolution to end child, early and forced marriage, recognising that it is a violation of human rights; the 2017 resolution recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts; the 2019 resolution on the consequences of child marriage; the 2021 resolution on child, early and forced marriage in times of crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic; and the 2023 resolution on ending and preventing forced marriage..

In 2014, Japan also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Japan co-sponsored the 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

Japan ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994, which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1985, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2016 review, the CEDAW Committee expressed regret that Japan’s Civil Code still sets the minimum age of marriage as 16 for girls and 18 for boys. It recommended that Japan amend this to be 18 for girls as well.

In 2019, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed similar concerns regarding the disparities in the marriageable age for girls and boys (however amendments to the law will take effect in 2022) and urged Japan to take interim measures necessary to completely eliminate child marriage.

During its 2022 Universal Periodic Review, it was noted that as of 1 April 2022, the Civil Code amendment came into effect which lowered the legal minimum age of marriage from 20 years to 18 years for both men and women.

At the London Girl Summit in July 2014, the government signed a charter committing to end child marriage by 2020.

Japan is a pathfinding country for the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. The Japanese government has committed to ending violence against children in Japan as well as other countries throughout Asia. In 2018, the government committed $6 million (USD) to the fund to End Violence Against Children to assist with projects in humanitarian settings.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) plays a crucial in global efforts to end child marriage. JICA works in 29 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America including countries such as Niger, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, India and Bangladesh.

The Civil Code (relating to age of majority) amendment became effective as of 1 April 2022. This amendment increased the minimum age of marriage to 18 for women, by lowering the age of adulthood from 20 to 18 years for women and men.

As a major donor country, Human Rights Watch Japan noted their regret at the lack of programmatic focus on child marriage in Japan’s international development assistance and called on the Foreign Ministry to prioritise ending child marriage in Japan’s foreign policy.

Under the Japanese Civil Code the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years for boys and girls.

As of April 1, 2022, the amendment of the Civil Code came into effect. This amendment lowered the legal age of marriage from 20 years old to 18 years for girls and boys.