Domestic lawyers and human rights groups have welcomed the firm stance of the U.N. Committee against Torture expressing grave concern over major human rights topics in Japan, including the "daiyo kangoku" substitute prisons, capital punishment and wartime sex slavery.
After examining Japan's first report under the U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Geneva-based committee urged Tokyo earlier this month to review its treatment of daiyo kangoku and death-row inmates and to address sex-based violence.
Tokyo acceded to the Convention in 1999, and Seigo Hirayama, chairman of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, said in a statement, "Japan, as a member country, needs to take the recommendations seriously and make utmost efforts to implement them."