Respect for human rights is the fundamental principle of the Constitution of Japan and of democratic society. Regrettably, however, problems with human rights such as discrimination, abuse and bullying still exist. In addition a number of new problems including invasion of privacy on the Internet have also arisen owing to rapid changes in the advanced information society.

The human rights organizations have been taking appropriate measures to solve human rights infringement cases such as cases of discrimination and abuse after conducting investigation when they receive request for relief from victims.

Human rights counseling services, which are staffed by human rights volunteers and the officials of the legal affairs bureaus and district legal affairs bureaus are available to answer various kinds of inquiries, and this service system has been further bolstered by installing special telephones in the legal affairs bureaus and district legal affairs bureaus for exclusive use by children and women, namely, the “Children’s Rights Hotline” (with a nationwide toll-free number), and the “Women’s Rights Hotline” (with a nationwide number), and by introducing a human rights counseling service on the Internet, and the “Children’s Rights SOS Letter-Cards” service for elementary and junior high school students nationwide.

The human rights organizations implement awareness-raising activities all over Japan throughout the year, in particular during the period from December 4 to 10 each year designated as Human Rights Week, for the purpose of spreading the philosophy of respect for human rights among the people and thereby improving public understanding.

These activities include the holding of lectures and round-table talks, television and radio broadcasts, the placement of related articles and the distribution of awareness-raising pamphlets.

The Ministry of Justice continues to review the contents of the Human Rights Protection Bill, which provides mainly for the establishment of a Human Rights Committee as an independent administrative committee of the State and also for the creation of a remedial system for infringements of human rights which is to be operated by the Committee.