A UN committee will ask the Japanese government this month to improve gender equality in the nation, based on the UN General Assembly’s international agreement of rights for women.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is reviewing the Japanese government’s efforts to promote gender equality and will give its recommendations for the first time in eight years.

The recommendations will be based on the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, which is called the “world’s constitution” concerning women’s rights.

The committee is expected to urge the Japanese government to allow married couples to have different surnames from one another, and ratify the optional protocol that sets individual complaint and inquiry procedures.

The committee consists of experts from 23 countries including Japan and regularly conducts a face-to-face screening with each nation’s government.

The Japanese government will be screened for the sixth time after a period of eight years.

The meeting will be held at the United Nations office in Geneva on Oct. 17.

The committee will engage in dialogue with Japanese delegates for around five hours, ask for opinions from NGOs and announce conclusions including recommendations.

In 2016, when the screening process was last held, the committee expressed its serious concerns about Japan’s discriminatory family laws.

Following the recommendations, the laws on the minimum ages of marriage, which used to differ for men and women, and the prohibition against women from remarrying within a specified period of time after were divorce amended to correct the disparities.

However, allowing different surnames for married couples has not yet been legalized in Japan.

The concluding observation announced in 2016 pointed out that the country’s “Civil Code requiring married couples to use the same surname, in practice, often compels women to adopt their husbands’ surnames,” and urged corrective measures.

If corrections are suggested, it will mark the fourth time following screening sessions in 2003, 2009 and 2016.

In addition, the committee will highly likely request ratifying the optional protocol regarding individual communication procedures.

Under the procedures, victims who have their human rights violated can submit a complaint directly to the United Nations, if they do not receive redress within their own country.

The protocol aims at boosting implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, and 115 of 189 countries that agreed to the convention have already ratified the protocol.

In the UN screening process, various issues such as violence against women, reproductive health and rights, and introduction of a quota system to increase the number of female legislators will be discussed.

“The Constitution demands that our country faithfully observe the treaties concluded by Japan,” said Hiroyuki Taniguchi, a professor at Aoyama Gakuin University, who has expertise in international human rights.The recommendations given by the committee are concrete resolutions to eliminate discrimination, which have been concluded after being discussed by the international society.”

Taniguchi pointed out the necessity of sincerely listening to the guidance given by the UN committee.

(This article was written by Sawa Okabayashi and Satoko Onuki.)