A/HRC/34/54/Add.3
299. The Special Rapporteur further stresses that, as noted in the report, “reparations for
women cannot be just about returning them to the situation in which they were found
before the individual instance of violence, but instead should strive to have a
transformative potential. This implies that reparations should aspire, to the extent
possible, to subvert instead of reinforcing pre-existing patterns of cross-cutting
structural subordination, gender hierarchies, systemic marginalization and structural
inequalities that may be the root cause of the violence that women experienced before,
during and after the conflict. Complex schemes of reparations, such as those that
provide a variety of types of benefits, can better address the needs of female
beneficiaries in terms of transformative potential, both on a practical material level and
in terms of their self-confidence and esteem. Measures of symbolic recognition can also
be crucial. They can simultaneously address both the recognition of victims and the
dismantling of patriarchal understandings that give meaning to the violations”
(A/HRC/14/22, para.85).
300. The Special Rapporteur calls on the Government of Japan to comply with its
international legal obligations under CAT, particularly under article 14, which requires
that state parties ensure “that the victim of an act of torture obtains redress and has an
enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, including the means for as full
rehabilitation as possible.”
JOL 23/05/2016 Case No. JPN 3/2016 State Reply: 25/07/2016 Allegations concerning
Law No. 111 of 2003, which contains a number of provisions permitting
sterilization and other medical procedures coercively carried out on transgender
adults and children seeking gender reassignment in Japan.
301. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of Japan for its reply, dated 22 July
2016, to the present communication. The Rapporteur takes note of the Government’s
request that it be permitted a time extension for preparation of the response. However,
he regrets that, six months later, no further information or subsequent reply from the
Government has been forthcoming regarding the allegations of forced or coercive
sterilization of individuals seeking gender reassignment in Japan. The Rapporteur
hence finds that the Government, in its reply, does not sufficiently address the concerns,
legal obligations, and questions raised in the initial communication, which prompts him
to conclude that the Government fails to fully and expeditiously cooperate with the
mandate issued by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 25/13.
302. In the absence of information to the contrary, the Special Rapporteur concludes that
there is substance in the allegations presented in the initial communication, available via
the link above, and is therefore of the view that the Government of Japan, by failing to
amend its Law No. 111, which subjects transgender persons to (a) potentially
humiliating and stigmatising medical examinations and diagnoses, and (b) mandatory
and therefore coercive medical procedures of gender reassignment as a prerequisite to
obtaining legal recognition of their gender identity, violates the right of transgender
persons to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as provided by
articles 1, 2, and 16 of the Convention against Torture (CAT).
303. As observed by the Special Rapporteur in his 2016 thematic report to the Human
Rights Council (A/HRC/31/57), forced or otherwise involuntary gender reassignment
surgery, sterilization or other coercive medical procedures of individuals seeking gender
reassignment, are rooted in discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender
identity, and thus violate the rights to physical integrity and self-determination of
individuals and amount to ill-treatment or torture (para. 49). The Special Rapporteur
calls upon all States to “outlaw forced or coerced sterilization in all circumstances and
57
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