MANY SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS IN JAPAN NOT REPORTING TO POLICE

A survey of sexual abuse victims in Japan has shown that less than 30% of victims reported the damage to police or support groups, while many face difficulties acknowledging abusive acts as sexual violence, Aya Shiota reported for the Mainichi Shimbun.

The survey, conducted online between August and September by the sexual assault survivors' organization Spring, questioned 5,899 victims of sexual abuse. The group plans to submit the results to a panel of experts at the Ministry of Justice, which has been carrying forward discussion on revisions to the Penal Code to make non-consensual sexual intercourse punishable. Debate on Penal Code provisions regarding sexual crimes had mainly been based on actual lawsuits. Spring's move is significant in that it will provide an opportunity for voices that have not reached the judicial sphere to be taken up for discussion.

Of those who answered the survey, 96.4% were female. The most common form of sexual assault, claimed by 63.9% of respondents, was "being groped over clothing," followed by "being groped beneath clothing" (34.6%), "being shown genitals and other parts" (31.3%), and "abuse involving insertion into the mouth, anus, or vagina" (21.5%). Cases including the perpetrator ejaculating on, kissing, or masturbating near the victim were reported under "other" and accounted for 14.7% of the total.

A total of 34% of all respondents answered that they had been harassed by "parents, parents' partners, relatives, or other acquaintances." However, when limited to sexual assault involving insertion, the proportion of cases with the above harassers rose to 59%. Furthermore, over 80% of respondents who claimed they were sexually abused via insertion of bodily organs by parents, parents' partners, or relatives, were aged 12 or younger -- highlighting the severity of sexual abuse of children.