A/HRC/8/44 Page 13 44. Azerbaijan noted that Japan is one of the destination countries of migrant workers and asked, inter alia, whether Japan is considering becoming a party to the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. It asked for the Government’s views on the recommendation of some treaty bodies to make void some legal provisions in Japan, which in their opinion discriminate against women and Japan’s views on implementing the recommendation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child to amend its legislation to eliminate any discrimination against children born out of wedlock. 45. Following the interventions, Japan noted significant changes including in the social environment, and that child prostitution, child pornography and child abuse are becoming more serious and referred to measures taken in order to address such changes, inter alia, to recent legislation passed on these issues. Japan referred to a statement released by the Government in August 1993, which recognized that the issue of “comfort women” had severely injured the honour and dignity of many women, and extended apologies and remorse. Japan stressed that the statement was its consistent basic position. Japan stated that it has been dealing with the issue of reparation, property and claims concerning the Second World War, including the issue of “comfort women”, in good faith, pursuant to the San Francisco peace treaty, bilateral peace treaties, and other relevant agreements. In this way, such issues, including that of “comfort women”, have been legally settled with the countries of the parties to these treaties. It also mentioned the activities of the Asian Women’s Fund (AWF), which was established in 1995 and dissolved in March 2007, and its efforts for the projects of the AWF to facilitate feasible remedies for former “comfort women” who had reached advanced ages by such means as contributing about 4.8 billion yen from its national budget. Japan stated that letters from the Prime Minister were delivered to the former “comfort women” through the activities of the AWF. Japan stressed that it would continue its efforts to promote understanding of the sympathy of the Japanese people represented by the AWF and actively cooperate in the activities for caring the former “comfort women” succeeding the purpose of the AWF. The Government expressed its readiness to continue to have a dialogue with the treaty bodies on this issue. 46. The Government recognized as a historical fact that the Ainu people indigenously inhabited northern Japan, in particular Hokkaido, and that the Ainu is a minority as stipulated in article 27 of ICCPR. Japan promoted the the Ainu culture and disseminated information about Ainu traditions based on the Ainu Cultural Promotion Law, and supported the enhancement of the lives of the Ainu people. . Regarding the question on immigration detention centres, the Government noted that due attention is paid to the human rights of the detainees, and the cases where officials were accused to have committed violence mostly happened coincidently in the course of those official’s controlling the violation of the rules in those facilities. Detainees can submit complaints against their treatment to the Minister of Justice. Additionally, to prevent violence at penitentiary institutions, Japan provides officers with education to promote necessary human rights protection measures, and establishes complaints mechanisms and inspection committees. Medical services are provided to prisoners by doctors, and prisoners are transferred to medical prisons to receive necessary medical treatment. The Government is working to enhance the quality of these services. The Government explained its system of authorization of history text books which were written and edited in the private sector, and reviewed by experts at the Textbook Approval Research Council at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which decided on the books permitted for use in schools. 47. Jordan commended Japan on the effort to establish a legal and institutional framework for the promotion of human rights and asked about the challenges that it faces in protecting the victims of trafficking.