Bar to kids' citizenship ruled illegal

Supreme Court opens door to unwed foreign moms' children

By JUN HONGO Staff writer

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080605a1.html

In a ruling sure to affect thousands of others born out of wedlock to non-Japanese mothers, the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted 10 children of Filipino women the right to Japanese nationality.

Saying it led to unreasonable discrimination, 12 of the 15 justices on the top court's grand bench ruled unconstitutional a provision in the Nationality Law that states that such children can only become citizens of the mother's home country.

The children, aged between 8 and 14, were all born out of wedlock and recognized by their Japanese fathers only after they were born.
Under the law, had the fathers stepped forward before birth, the children would have been deemed Japanese.

The Tokyo High Court had denied them Japanese nationality based on this stipulation in the Nationality Law.
It is believed that in many cases, the Japanese fathers were married to other women when the mothers became pregnant with their children.

In overturning the high court decision, Supreme Court Chief Justice Niro Shimada ruled that the provision in the law resulted in "discrimination without any rational reason" and thus violated Article 14 of the Constitution, which stipulates equality under the law.

In finding unlawful the clause requiring that the parents be married, the ruling stated, "The disadvantages caused to the children by this biased treatment cannot be disregarded."

The case marks the eighth time the Supreme Court has found a law unconstitutional.
Most recently, in September 2005, the top court ruled the election law unconstitutionally denied full voting rights to Japanese living abroad.

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The Japan Times: Thursday, June 5, 2008

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