The following is a continuation of the previous chapter (from an important article by Yoshiko Ikeda, published in the monthly magazine Hanada Plus).
The Inside Story of the "40% Child Support Received in 31 Years" Target
I have long wondered why the Japanese government, which has always imported systems adopted in other countries, would attempt to create a unique Japanese system only for family law.
This question was answered by looking at the paper and the DPRK Constitution.
It was not modeled on Western countries but rather on North Korea.
The "extraordinary measures to reduce the birthrate," announced by Prime Minister Kishida on January 4, are likely to imitate North Korea's policy for families with children.
The first thing that should be included in any measure to combat the declining birth rate is a policy to reduce the unmarried rate, which has been rising sharply in recent years.
In Japan, where the number of children born out of wedlock is low, no children will be born if young people do not marry.
In addition, policies to reduce the divorce rate, which now stands at one out of every three couples, must also be considered.
It is because the number of children will not increase if single-parent families continue to exist.
However, we have not heard any calls from the ruling party that these measures should be included.
Instead, the government has proposed the exact opposite policy.
On April 25, Masanobu Ogura, Minister of State for Children's Policy, announced that the government would expand the "Model Project for Supporting Parents Before and After Divorce" promoted by the Child and Family Agency and set a target of 40% by 2031 for the percentage of single-mother households that receive child support payments due to divorce or other reasons.
Minister Ogura is in charge of the Child and Family Agency, an organization that, like South Korea's Ministry of Women and Family Affairs (the equivalent of a Japanese agency), is often derided as an outpost of the Red Network.
Minister Ogura's proposal would only appear if the current single-parent custody system is substantially maintained and policies to curb the increase in single-parent families are implemented.
In other words, under the fake joint custody system, many parents will continue to be deprived of custody and unable to see their children even in the absence of domestic violence.
It is impossible to create a system in which parents who are deprived of custody and cannot see their children are forced to pay only child support.
If the sole custody system is to be preserved, making child support payments mandatory is theoretically impossible.
Nevertheless, we would like to force the parent who has lost custody to pay child support.
Therefore, we are attempting to set such an effort target instead.
Solving the Child Poverty Problem" is Mere Rhetoric"
Suppose the proposed amendment to the Civil Code, which the Ministry of Justice plans to submit to the Diet, is made to introduce an actual joint custody system and a provision that makes child support arrangements mandatory at the time of divorce. In that case, 100% of child support will be paid when the amended law is enacted.
The target of 40% child support payment by 2031 is entirely unnecessary.
The numerical targets announced by Minister Ogura are intended to block the Ministry of Justice's positive move toward introducing a proper joint custody system, and they are not only harsh in terms of content but also terrible in terms of procedures.
It is an outrageous act of exceeding one's authority.
Justice Minister Ken Saito has been taken for a fool.
Why did the Red Network, which has taken over the Child and Family Agency, have Minister Ogura make this announcement when the Ministry of Justice has not even drafted a bill?
The reason is that once the Ministry of Justice's Legislative Council issues its report, the Red Network will have no say in the subsequent drafting of the bill.
If so, there is a risk that the LDP's Legal Affairs Subcommittee and others will get involved and submit a genuine "joint custody bill" to the Diet that is different from the draft of the report, which has been stripped to the bare bones.
It is what they are trying to prevent.
They are now trying to control the post-divorce system by using the Child and Family Agency instead of the Ministry of Justice to push for a system similar to the family law in North Korea, where child support can be collected without fail, even if the child never sees their father.
The announcement by Minister Ogura revealed that the "solution to the problem of child poverty," which the Red Network always claims to be a solution to the problem of child poverty, is mere rhetoric.
It is because if they were serious about lifting children out of poverty, they would not be discussing a plan that aims for 60% of single-mother households to be unable to receive child support eight years from now.
This article continues.
