Implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in Japan

Yoko Hayashi Athena Law Office, Japan
4th floor, Kaishin Building, 7-12-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0061 ,Japan.
Corresponding Author: hayashi@athena-law.com
ⓒ Copyright YIJUN Institute of International Law
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract
Upon Japan's ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women in 1985, certain law reforms for gender equality were realized. However, international human rights law has impacted limitedly on the Japanese judiciary. The Women's Convention has been invoked by parties in a number of cases, but so far has never been positively quoted by the courts. On the other hand, the jurisprudence of individual complaints under the Optional Protocol of the Women's Convention (CEDAW-OP)has developed significantly. This paper introduces the case law of the individual complaint procedure of the Women's Convention, and identifies its significance in comparison with Japanese jurisprudence. As the jurisprudence of individual complaints under the Women'sCEDAW Convention is still in the law-making stage, the author encourages the Japanese government to ratify the Optional Protocol so that it can participate in the process of developing this jurisprudence.

Keywords : Gender Equality, CEDAW, The Women's Convention, UN Women, Optional Protocol, Individual Complaint, CEDAW-OP, Japan

The Full Text is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2013.6.2.01

Islamic View of Women's Rights: An International Lawyer's Perspective

Ekaterina Yahyaoui Krivenko University of Montreal, Canada
500 Rue Francois, App. 312 Montreal, QC H3E 1G4 Canada
Corresponding Author: ekaterina.yahyaoui@graduateinstitute.ch
ⓒ Copyright YIJUN Institute of International Law
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract
What is an Islamic view of women's rights? Is there an authentic Islamic interpretation of this issue? The central argument of this article is that there is no unique Islamic view of women's rights and even more, that according to the very nature and spirit of Islamic law itself, there should be no such version. The article starts with an overview of states' international obligations with regard to protection of women's rights. It continues with some examples of implementation of these obligations in several states proclaiming Islam as official religion and source of legislation. This part of the article demonstrates diversity of views existing among such states and insists on the fact that it is not religion itself, but its misuse by patriarchal totalitarian regimes that impedes any development towards improvement of the situation of women in some Muslim states. Finally, the article suggests that international lawyers shall abandon sacralizing religiously framed defenses of certain states and be in contrast more attentive and sensitive to difficulties faced by other Muslim states in their effort to reform and reinterpret Islamic law.

Keywords : Islam, women's rights, CEDAW, reservations, Saudi Arabia, marriage, divorce, rights and obligations of spouses, custody of children.

The Full Text is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2009.2.1.04