SNA (Atlanta) — Human Rights Watch has released a 43-page report that urges the Japanese government to revise what activists and experts call an “outdated” and “abusive” transgender recognition law.

The report focuses on Japan’s Act on Special Cases in Handling Gender for People with Gender Identity Disorder (2004). Human Rights Watch provides a review of how this law impacts individuals, it details the steps to obtain gender recognition, explains the treatment of transgender people under the law, and highlights international stances regarding it. The report places particular emphasis on first-hand accounts pertaining to how the law has impacted transgender people in Japan.

Fumino Sugiyama, a transgender man and co-chair of Tokyo Rainbow Pride, provided his response to the World Health Organization (WHO) policy change on the labeling transgender people as having “gender personality disorder” as follows: “The WHO says I don’t have a mental disorder, but in Japan my government says I do.”

The report then goes on to explain the process for obtaining gender recognition in Japan. The law requires a diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder before any transgender person can apply for legal recognition of the gender that they identify with. The law also requires that individuals must be at least 20 years old, unmarried, have no children under the age of 20, and undergo surgical sterilization.

While the report states that some transgender people may indeed want to undertake some of these actions as part of their transition, requiring all transgender people to do so is contrary to international law and a violation of transgender people’s basic rights. In particular, the surgical requirement is widely regarded as being particularly onerous.

Human Rights Watch noted that, for some, surgery was their only gateway to other transgender rights; for example, “the right to marry and enjoy the benefits that come with marriage,” such as tax benefits.

The organization also found that some transgender people in Japan would not have chosen sterilization if they had the option to have their gender legally recognized without undergoing this procedure.

One of the interviewed subjects, Noriko R., stated, “I want to get my identification card changed. To change it on the family register, we have to get surgery. It’s really a lot of pressure for me.” She continued, “It costs a lot, and I can’t rely on my parents for help. My transgender friends are waiting for surgery, but I can’t do that, so I feel like I’m becoming isolated, falling behind them.”

The report highlights the importance of educational institutions in supporting the rights of transgender people: “Over the past few years, both national women’s universities and two private women’s universities in Japan (Ochanomizu University, Nara Women’s University, Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University, and Japan Women’s University) have announced that they began to allow transgender students to matriculate at their institutions,” it noted.

Finally, the Human Rights Watch report explained that Japan was falling increasingly out of step with the policies of other advanced nations, including the “obligation to respect the rights of persons with disabilities and transgender and intersex persons, who also have the right to retain their fertility.”

During a 2017-2018 review of Japan’s record at the UN Human Rights Council, a recommendation was issued that Japan “take steps to address discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, including revising the Gender Identity Disorder Law.”

Despite such repeated calls from the community and from international organizations, the government has yet to act upon such recommendations.

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