UN points to gender equality over Japan's Imperial House Law
The United Nations on Friday (July 17) expressed its support for inclusive policies that advance women's rights in response to Japan's revision of the Imperial House Law.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "encourages all countries to adopt inclusive policies that will empower women in all walks of life and in all forms of employment," Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for Guterres, told a regular press conference.
On Friday, Japan's parliament enacted a bill to revise the Imperial House Law to secure a sufficient number of Imperial Family members, making the first substantive change to the law since its establishment in 1947.
The revised law, meanwhile, maintains the rule limiting the right of succession to the throne to male members in the male line.
In 2024, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recommended that Japan amend the law, which does not allow female members to ascend the throne, in order to ensure gender equality.
The Japanese government strongly protested the recommendation, saying that the succession to the Imperial Throne concerns the very foundations of the state.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
