Recently, the United Nations’ Special Envoy on Child Protection, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, has begun to discuss the banning of manga that “depicts sexual images of children in Japanese manga.” She adds, “I accept that the freedom of expression argument should prevail when it comes to adult pornography.” During her speech, she asked for the Japanese government to clamp down on illustrations of children that contain sexual undertones, referring to mainly manga, as they are not currently illegal under the amendment to the law regarding the possession of child pornography.
This amendment, which came into effect last year, made it illegal in Japan to possess child porn, so long as you had no plans on selling it or distributing it, but this year, in July, it became illegal to possess whatsoever. Although manga readers everywhere might fear that this will encroach on the materials that are discussed in their favorite series, and series still to be written, there should be no reason to raise concern as six years ago, similar talks were had between the United Nations and Japan, and nothing really happened.
For those truly interested interested in the entire speech, here is the hour-long speech where she outlines in detail what she wants for the Japanese government to do:
Source: Vice News, Rocketnews24, YouTube, ANN, Wikipedia
