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Summary: The number of bullying-related complaints increased by more than 50 per cent from 2009, while cases of violence and abuse, including domestic and sexual violence against children, accounted for the largest number of the total child rights violations at 4,788.
[TOKYO, 11 March 2011] - Complaints over school authorities’ inappropriate responses to bullying and cases of child abuse addressed under a Justice Ministry program to remedy human rights violations both reached record highs in 2010, the ministry said Friday. The number of bullying-related complaints jumped 51.9 per cent from the previous year to 2,714 and abuse cases grew 6.3 per cent to 771, it said. ‘‘The number of cases directly reported by affected children grew. It is possible that they brought to light underlying cases,’’ said an official of the ministry’s Human Rights Bureau. The total number of human rights violations has remained at the 20,000 level since 2004. In 2010, the total came to 21,696, up 2.3 per cent from the previous year. Cases of violence and abuse accounted for the largest number of the total human rights violations at 4,788, down 6.1 per cent from 2009. Cases of privacy violation remained almost unchanged at 1,752, with online harassment accounting for 40 per cent of the total. Meanwhile, a case of sexual abuse of a girl by her own father surfaced in one of the ‘‘children’s human rights SOS’’ letters that the ministry’s legal affairs bureaus have distributed to elementary and junior high schools across Japan since 2007. The child was promptly taken into protective custody, the ministry said. Further Information:
pdf: http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/bullying-related-complaint...