Global Progress Towards Ending the Sexual Exploitation of Children
A global problem requires truly global solutions to address the sexual exploitation of children.
Indicators
Age of Consent
Partial
Age of sexual consent is 16 years old. The national legislation does not provide for a close-in-age exemption
Analysis of country legislation on age of sexual consent, 2024
Extraterritoriality & Extradition
Partial
Active extraterritoriality is provided for SEC crimes including crimes committed by residents. Passive extraterritoriality is provided for some SEC related crimes including "forced indecency", rape, kidnapping of minors, human trafficking and any attempts thereof. Double criminality is not required.
Extradition is only permitted on the basis of an extradition agreement. It is unclear whether double criminality is required for extradition cases.
ECO Japan, 2018
CSAM Definition
No
The national legislation does not provide a definition of CSAM which is in line with international standards. The definition provided does not include depictions of the sexual parts of a child’s body for primarily sexual purposes, non-visual material, nor material depicting a person appearing to be a minor and computer/digitally generated CSAM including realistic images of non-existing children.
ECO Japan, 2018
Background Check Required
Not Yet Assessed
National Commitments
Partial
Japan has ratified the CRC, the OPSC, the Trafficking Protocol and the ILO Convention No. 182.
Japan has also ratified the Council of Europe's Budapest Convention.
Japan has not ratified the OPIC, the UNWTO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics nor the Council of Europe's Lanzarote Convention.
ECO Japan, 2018
Child Advocacy Centers
Not Yet Assessed
SEC Police Unit
Not Yet Assessed
Protection Standards Travel and Tourism
Not Yet Assessed
Public SEC Case Data
No
There are national statistics on sexual exploitation of children in prostitution, offences related to child sexual abuse material and trafficking of children for sexual purposes. No information was found on whether this data is clearly disaggregated, made available periodically and whether it contains data on offenders and on compensation sought by child victims.
ECO Japan, 2018
Age of Consent Law is Appropriate
The age of sexual consent for both males and females is 18 and a close in age exemption (up to 3 years) is provided for consensual sexual relationships between adolescents.
The age of sexual consent is the legally defined age at which a person is considered mature enough to agree to sexual activity. The age of sexual consent varies across jurisdictions around the world and there is no international legal instrument establishing it, however various forms of advocacy have encouraged States to establish a minimum age under which engaging in sexual contact is considered a criminal offence. This is intended to prevent sexual contact with children and to prevent argument that the child consented as a defence.
Often national provisions related to the age of sexual consent include an exception, known as a close-in-age exemption, making consensual sexual activities between young people lawful if the partners are of similar ages and the age difference is not higher than a certain number of years.
To ensure that cases of child sexual exploitation do not go unpunished, ECPAT advocates for the age of sexual consent to be set at 18 for both males and females with a close-in-age exemption of 2-3 years provided in order to ensure young people are not penalised for consensual sexual acts with peers. The age from which the exemption applies should be established by States but may begin for young people somewhere between 12 and 16 years of age.
Yes The national legislation explicitly indicates that the age of sexual consent unequivocally is 18 for both males and females, with a close-in-age exemption for sexual acts between peers (of up to 3 years) is provided by law.