2007 04: No time to waste when tackling child abuse

The Star online. News. Opinion. Sunday April 22, 2007

TOKYO: At this very moment, somewhere in this country, there will be children who are being abused at home, but who are unable to get help. The use of force by authorities may be necessary to save a child’s life.

A supra partisan group of lawmakers has drafted a bill to revise the Child Abuse Prevention Law. The revision bill will be submitted to the Diet during the current ordinary session and is expected to pass the Diet in May.

The main objective of the revision is to enhance the power of children’s consultation centres.

Under the proposed changes, if parents are suspected of abusing a child and fail to acquiesce to a voluntary search or to report to the authorities when asked to do so, a prefectural governor would be able to obtain a court warrant allowing officials from a children’s consultation centre to enter the house in question. Police officers would accompany representatives of the centre.
These envisioned powers are surely only natural for an administrative body, meaning that the changes are already too late.

During debate over a previous revision of the law in 2004, the argument was proffered that police and children’s consultation centres should have greater powers to enter homes. However, such proposals were dropped after the opposition bloc objected to what it said would be a violation of human rights.

But since the earlier revision, many tragic cases have surfaced of children being abused.
One incident that stands out was in May of last year, when a three-year-old boy was starved to death. The boy’s parents locked the door to their house and refused to allow officials from a children’s consultation centre to enter.

The current law meant centre staff did not have the power to take the boy into protective custody.

In response to this tragedy, the National Police Agency sent a notice to police forces across the country advising them to take advantage of a clause in the law covering police duties that says officers are allowed to enter a building when a person is in imminent danger.

Yet establishing whether a person is in imminent danger is not easy.

The latest revision therefore allows for a search to be conducted if certain conditions are met, and proper procedures are followed.

Children’s consultation centres would take the lead in such a search under the envisioned changes, with police empowered to extend support to the centre.

When necessary, police should take the lead in any search.

Another proposal is to allow children’s consultation centres to issue an order to the parents of a child placed in protective custody at a welfare facility, under the authority of the governor, not to come near the child in an effort to take it back. The revision envisages making violation of the order a criminal offence.

The revision bill also stipulates that children’s consultation centres and municipal governments are obliged to check on the well-being of a child if they receive information of possible child abuse.

With these increased powers will come obligations on administrative bodies to fulfil their duties.
In 2006, 59 children died in their homes as a result of child abuse. There is therefore no time to waste in tackling this issue.