Recently the Franciscan Chapel Center, whose volunteer groups are active in many areas of need in our community, has provided a considerable amount of information for this column. Among them are columns that have dealt with providing rice balls for the homeless, exposed Japan as the leading source of child pornography and wrote of visits to foreigners in detention centers. Now, along with a number of other concerned groups, FCC volunteers are asking for your help in moving forward a proposed bill in the Diet by signing a petition, one that asks for immediate passage of a bill that has been proposed to end child prostitution, child pornography and trafficking in children for sexual purposes. Please act now if you can add your support. March 15 is the date when petitions will be collected.
To obtain a copy of the petition, call the FCC at (03) 3401-2141 or fax (03) 3401-2142 and ask to have one mailed or faxed to you, or stop at the center, located near Roppongi, and sign one there. You could also pick up an extra copy for your friends to sign. Do what you can to help.
Those working on the project had hoped for an early passage of the bill, but the Diet has many concerns at this time and it appears that deliberation on this legislation has been sidelined by other pending bills. They are appealing to everyone living in Japan to support this cause. The petition states in part, "Given the degree to which untold suffering is being wrought upon children's lives by child prostitution, and the degree to which pornographic materials are proliferating, as well as Japan's reported status as the largest exporter of child pornography in the world, it is only right for the National Diet to take action."