Japan: Domestic Violence and Stalking Laws Amended
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Japan’s legislature passed amendments to the country’s domestic violence law and stalking law in June 2013.
The revised domestic violence law will now cover violence committed by the victim's cohabitating boyfriend or girlfriend and allow the victim to request that the court issue a restraining order. Currently, the law only provides protection for domestic violence victims who are spouses, de facto spouses or ex-spouses of the perpetrators.
The amendments to the stalking legislation will ban repeated emails and will take effect in October 2013. The law already bans repeated phone calls and faxes. The new law also expands the jursdictional authority of the local public safety commissions to take action where the victim lives, where the harassment occurred and where the stalker lives.
Compiled from: Japan: Two Laws Amended to Better Protect Women, Global Legal Monitor, Library of Congress (28 August 2013).
For More Information
Please see Domestic Violence section of this website.
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