Tokyo to ban parents from physically punishing children after high-profile abuse cases
- The ordinance on child abuse prevention comes after a five-year-old died last year, revealing shocking details of abuse and neglect
The Tokyo government said Wednesday it is set to introduce an ordinance on child abuse prevention, banning parents and other guardians from physically punishing and verbally abusing children following a high-profile fatal abuse case last year.
The draft of the new ordinance, which also requires child welfare centres to share information among themselves, will be submitted to the regular meeting of the metropolitan assembly starting February 20 under the aim of implementation in April, it said. Despite the “ban”, the planned ordinance lacks punitive clauses.
The Metropolitan Government decided to compile the ordinance on child abuse prevention after five-year-old Yua Funato died in March last year in Tokyo’s Meguro Ward, revealing shocking details of abuse and neglect she had suffered by her parents despite her desperate pleas for them to “forgive” her and stop mistreating her.
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A Tokyo government panel reviewing the case concluded in November the child welfare centres in Kagawa Prefecture and Tokyo failed to liaise sufficiently on the family when they moved and were slow in checking the safety of the girl.
Tokyo’s envisioned ordinance bans physical punishment and other actions by guardians that inflict physical and mental suffering on children. It also urges parents to go through medical check-ups for pregnant women and children.
The ordinance requires child welfare centres in Tokyo to properly pass information to centres elsewhere when they refer ongoing cases depending on the urgency of each case, while stating the Tokyo government will create an environment in which people can report suspected abuse cases without hesitation.
Over Yua’s death, her stepfather Yudai Funato and her mother Yuri were indicted in June last year for allegedly failing to give their daughter enough food and assaulting her in their home in Tokyo since late January that year.
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Yua died in March from sepsis caused by pneumonia as the couple did not take her to a hospital, fearing revelation of the abuse, according to the indictment. She weighed only 12kg when she was found dead, compared with the average weight for her age of 20kg.
The move by the Tokyo government also comes on the heels of another high profile abuse case involving 10-year-old Mia Kurihara in Noda in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo.
Since her death last month, her parents have been arrested on suspicion of assaulting their daughter, after allegedly mistreating her and depriving her of food and sleep.
The case also highlighted a series of missteps by authorities in protecting her as the Noda board of education gave the girl’s father a copy of a questionnaire in which she said she was being “bullied” by him.
Although she was once taken into protective custody, she was later returned home based on her writing that what she put in the questionnaire was a lie. It was later found that the father forced the girl to write the statement.
