The “Convention on the Rights of the Child” was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1989 and Japan ratified it in 1994. In 2000, the “Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography,” and “Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict” were also adopted by the U.N. General Assembly. In Japan, the conclusion of the protocols was approved by the Diet in April 2004.
  Among them, Japan ratified the “Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict” in August, and it came into effect in September 2004. Furthermore, Japan ratified the “Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography” in January 2005, and it came into effect in February the same year. As a national collateral act, the “Act for Partial Amendment to the Act on Punishment of Activities Relating to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the Protection of Children” (Act No. 106 of 2004) was enacted on June 11 and was put into force on July 8, 2004.