A/HRC/8/44 Page 4 7. Japan attached great importance to human rights education, based on the conviction that in order for all people to enjoy human rights and live contented lives, each citizen must fulfil his or her responsibility to uphold the freedoms and rights guaranteed to them, and at the same time must correctly understand and respect other people’s human rights. It referred to initiatives taken. Regarding the human rights of foreign residents in Japan, it is responding to various needs by establishing Human Rights Counseling Offices for Foreign Nationals with interpretation services at some Legal Affairs Bureaus. It was explained that in March 2002, the Ministry of Justice submitted the Human Rights Bill to establish a new Human Rights Commission which was not completed because of the dissolution of the lower house in October 2003, and the Ministry of Justice continued to review the Bill. Japan explained, inter alia, that it has been striving to realize a society without any form of racial or ethnic discrimination and that in order to prevent such human rights violations it pursues the strict implementation of relevant domestic laws and promotes activities for raising public awareness. Regarding the question about discrimination against women, Japan explained, inter alia, that opinions were asked from all levels of civil society, including NGOs, for the preparation of the Second Basic Plan for Gender Equality and that their opinions would be heard when revising the Basic Plan in the future. On the question of the marriageable age in Japan, it was explained that in February 1996, the Legislative Council of the Minister of Justice submitted an outline of a Bill to Revise Part of the Civil Code suggesting that the marriageable age should be 18 years for both men and women. Japan stated that this issue constitutes an important subject involving the marriage system and the concept of a family and since there were various opinions across all levels of civil society, close attention was being paid to trends in public opinion. 8. On the question of the treatment of detainees, it was explained that Japan has been making active efforts to improve its criminal justice proceedings, through the enactment of a law in 2005 and another law in 2006 to completely revise the legislation governing the treatment of sentenced inmates, and the treatment of pre-sentenced inmates, respectively. With regard to the police detention system, it was explained that the necessity of detention was strictly examined by the police, a prosecutor, and a judge in due order, and that a judge decides on its necessity and the placement of the detention for a maximum of 10 days. A prosecutor and a judge respectively review the necessity of the extension of the detention, and a judge order is also necessary for the extension, which cannot exceed 20 days in total. The Delegation stated that the substitute detention system was indispensable to carrying out prompt and effective investigations. At the police detention facilities, investigative officers were not allowed to control the treatment of detainees; detention operations were conducted by the detention division of the facility, which is not involved in investigations at all. The Delegation also explained that, regardless of the type of crime committed, detainees can have consultations with their lawyer at anytime and there is no official watch person during the meeting and no time limitation. Under the Penal and Detention Facilities Act, a new system has been introduced to make up a third party committee to inspect detention facilities and to state their opinions on the management of the facilities. In addition, a complaints mechanism has been developed in order to ensure the appropriate treatment of detainees. With regard to the treatment of the inmates in the penal institutions, the Delegation explained that the new law provided additional care for the loan of clothing and supply of food as well as for raising the standards guaranteeing adequate hygiene and medical care. Japan indicated that it was trying to settle the issue of over-crowded prisons by constructing new penal institutions. 9. The Delegation explained that the majority of Japanese people considers the death penalty to be unavoidable in case of extremely vicious crimes, and in view of the current situation in which heinous crimes such as mass murder and abduction-murder continue to take place, the Government believes that the application of the death penalty is unavoidable, and, therefore, the abolition of the death penalty is inappropriate. It was stated that Japan cannot support the resolution adopted by the General Assembly seeking a moratorium on executions as a precedent leading to the abolition of