Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2025, Publicación: 114ª reunión CIT (2026)

Convenio sobre la abolición del trabajo forzoso, 1957 (núm. 105) - Japón (Ratificación : 2022)

Legal framework establishing compulsory prison labour and impact on the application of Article 1 of the Convention. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information, in its report, that the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, and so on (Act No. 67 of 2022) came into effect on 1 June 2025 thereby establishing a new form of imprisonment. According to the text of the Act, section 9 of the Penal Code is amended as follows: “imprisonment, imprisonment without work” becomes only “deprivation of liberty”. Under the new sections 12(2) and (3) of the Penal Code, the sentence of imprisonment shall be deprivation of liberty in a penal institution, and a person sentenced to deprivation of liberty may be required to work for the purposes of improvement and rehabilitation. Act No. 67 of 2022 also contains provisions amending the Act on Penal Detention Facilities and Treatment of Inmates and Detainees. Section 93 permits the head of a penal institution to require inmates to perform work when it benefits their improvement, rehabilitation, or reintegration, unless doing so is deemed inappropriate.

In this regard, the Government indicates that the Ministry of Justice has issued a notice to the wardens of penal institutions to ensure that inmates who have been sentenced to imprisonment for violations of the various legislative provisions that would have allowed sanction involving compulsory prison labour to be imposed in circumstances covered by Article 1 of the Convention will not be forced to work against their will if they do not have the voluntary intention to do so. The provisions in question are found in various laws, including: (1) the National Public Service Act (section 111-2(ii)); (2) the Local Public Service Act (section 62-2); (3) the Self-Defence Forces Act (section 119-2); (4) the Postal Act (section 79(1)); (5) the Postal Transport Entrustment Act (Article 19); (6) the Heat Supply Business Act (section 34(3)); (7) the Telecommunications Business Act (Article 180(2); and (8) the Supplementary Provisions of the Act Partially Amending the Electricity Business Act (Article 65). The Government indicates that it is up to the inmate’s free will to decide whether they engage in work, and that an inmate will not be engaged in the work unless he or she submits a document stating that he or she intends to work. The Committee requests the Government to provide further details on the issuance of the notice to wardens instructing them to refrain from requiring work from inmates imprisoned under the above-mentioned legislative provisions, and to explain how the effective implementation of this notice is monitored. It also requests the Government to specify the number of persons convicted and imprisoned under these provisions, and to describe the measures in place to ensure that these inmates are informed of their right to refuse work and that any consent to work is freely given.

Article 1(a). Articles of the Penal Code on defamation and insults. The Committee previously noted that article 230(1) of the Penal Code criminalizes the defamation of a person by making allegations in public, regardless of whether such facts are true or false. Under article 230-2, when an act prescribed under article 230(1) is found to relate to matters of public interest and to have been conducted solely for the benefit of the public, the truth or falsity of the alleged facts are to be examined, and punishment is not imposed if they are proven to be true. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of these provisions, including information on number and nature of cases examined before the courts, the penalties applied and the facts that led to these penalties.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that, in 2023, 73 persons were charged under article 231 of the Penal Code, which provides that a person who insults another person in public, irrespective of whether the accusation alleges facts or not, is punished by penal detention or a petty fine, and tried in court. The Government also indicates that, pursuant to the supplementary provisions of Act No. 67 of 2022, it shall review the status of enforcement of the provisions of Article 231 of the Penal Code, to examine whether this provision is able to appropriately deal with slander on the Internet and whether it is unjustifiably restricting freedom of expression and other freedoms, three years after the enforcement of Act No. 67 of 2022 (therefore in 2025). Based on the results, the Ministry of Justice will proceed with the necessary measures. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the follow-up given to the 73 cases brought under article 231 of the Penal Code, including the underlying facts and the penalties imposed. It also requests the Government to provide information on the results of the examination undertaken on the application of section 231 of the Penal Code, and the measures adopted as a result.

Prohibition of the right to organize of certain public servants. The Committee previously noted, on the basis of its comments under the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and of articles 108-2(5) and 110(1)(xx) of the National Public Service Act, that firefighting personnel and prison officers (other than those with the specific duties of the judicial police) are prohibited from forming and joining an organization of their own choosing to defend their occupational interests. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that the acts prohibited by these provisions do not fall under the subparagraphs of Article 1 of the Convention and that, as such, it should not be categorized as an act that is under the protection of the Convention.

The Committee recalls that the right to express views critical of or opposed to the established political, economic and social system is closely linked to the exercise of collective rights, including the right to organize, to freedom of association and to participate in peaceful assemblies. Accordingly, the limitation of these rights may have implications on the application of Article 1(a) of the Convention and, in such cases, should not be enforced with sanctions that involve compulsory labour. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which such restrictions are enforced in practice in order to assess whether firefighting personnel and prison officers could be sanctioned with penalties of imprisonment involving compulsory work for expressing views opposing the established political, economic and social system.