February 4, 22

NEWS / Japan government panel recommends scrapping old law automatically printing name of mother's ex-husband on birth certificate

Japan is getting rid of an old law that automatically put the name of a woman’s ex-husband as the father on her child’s birth certificate if the child was born within 300 days of their divorce. The law was in place for over 120 years and had been criticized by the United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the Guardian reports.
A panel organized by the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recommended amending this rule, along with a legal clause that prohibits women from remarrying within 100 days of a divorce. The panel also recommended allowing women and children to challenge paternity claims, a right that only men have under current Japanese law.
However, the changes will only apply to children whose mothers subsequently remarried, not single women. If a woman gets divorced, does not remarry, and has a child within 300 days of the divorce, her ex-husband will still be automatically recorded as the father on the child’s birth certificate.
Many women who divorced abusive husbands and had children shortly thereafter often refused to register the birth of their child on the family register, known in Japanese as 戸籍 (koseiki). These children frequently face serious legal issues when they grow up as it is difficult for them to prove their nationality and identity without a duly issued birth certificate. At least 800 “unregistered” individuals are known to live in Japan, although the number is likely higher.