일본에 있어서 아동인권의 현황: 일본의 里親制度를 중심으로

Children's Human Rights Situation in Contemporary Japan: the Foster Care

Nowadays children's legal rights and status are becoming the focus of many debates and controversies worldwide. Japan has long established laws and regulations to secure and protect children's human rights, sparing no efforts. Even in today's Japanese society, issues concerning children are viewed and approached from many different perspectives. That is, a variety of interdisciplinary and specialized discussions are actively taking place, addressing the general issue of children's human rights as well as such particular problems as the welfare system, the impact of mass media on children, violence and accidents in school, the divorce rate and related children's welfare, child abuse, group suicide, the standardization of institutionalized education and its possible solutions, adoption and foster care. This paper aims to examine and assess the extent to which Japanese society acknowledges and protects children's human rights, by studying the current situations of child welfare system and focusing especially on the so-called foster care. The course of Japan's social development gives us much food for thought regarding our own reality. The reason for the poor operation of foster care in Japan may also apply to our society in the future. Taking lessons from Japan's experience and efforts, we will have to step above the level of general concern and take active measures in terms of legislation and policy-making in order to protect and expand children's human rights. In Korean where blood ties and kinship are greatly valued, new systems and policies of Japan or Europe may seem unfamiliar. However, in terms of child welfare and human rights, blood ties cannot have priority over children's human rights. The whole world is in agreement that a child, for no other reason than just being a child, has the right to be properly raised and educated. This is a matter that allows neither delay nor negotiation any longer.