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UNICEF Japan Continues Push against Virtual Child Porn
posted on by Egan Loo
The Japanese branch of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) held a meeting in Tokyo last Monday and called for increased regulation on sexually explicit material, including "virtual" child pornography — material such as some manga, anime, and games that explicitly depict fictional children. About 90 delegates gathered at the meeting to prepare for next month's World Congress III Against the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Japanese branch of UNICEF is leading a campaign to include virtual images in a proposed child pornography ban that is making its way through the Japanese parliament. The Yomiuri Shimbun paper wrote that the meeting emphasized the urgency for speedy legal reform since "images of children in swimsuits in sexual poses as well as anime depicting sexual abuse" are not regulated.
Currently, Japan outlaws the production and public display of child pornography, but does not outlaw mere possession of child pornography — virtual or otherwise. The other Group of Eight (G-8) countries besides Russia have laws that ban child pornography, but a ban against the virtual kind is being tested in American courts. As it stands now, Japan's proposed law would amend Japan's child pornography laws but not regulate the virtual kind. Instead, the government has decided to study the issue of virtual child pornography for three years. The parliament will consider the results of the study before making a future decision on the issue.
