１．My experience

My father was the president of a small construction company. I always dreamed of being like my father, who I admired for his strong sense of responsibility and hardworking personality. However, my father committed suicide 5 days before my 13th birthday, hoping to repay the company’s debt using life insurance. Since life insurance did not cover cases of suicide, my mother settled the debt by declaring personal bankruptcy. After my father’s death, my mother worked nonstop in order to support me and my younger sister, who was in the 5th grade of elementary school at the time. From my father’s death and my mother’s struggles, I learned how difficult it is to lead a “normal” lifestyle.

２．Reality of child poverty

ⅰ）Child poverty rate / Single-parent poverty rate
ⅱ）Opposite function of income reallocation

An increasing number of children are being denied a normal lifestyle. Compared to other children, children in poverty face major disadvantages when starting out in life. The “relative child poverty ratio” (see graph on left) indicates the ratio of children living at an income which is half or less of the average household. According to a 2009 survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), this ratio reached 15.7% and is increasing annually.

In particular, the relative poverty rate for single-parent households is 50.8%, the worst among developed countries (according to MHLW survey). This is despite the fact that more than 80% of single parents are employed. This high poverty ratio is caused by insufficient functioning of income reallocation by the government, as well as by a work environment which places single parents at a disadvantage.

３．Higher education and sacrifice by a family member

Child poverty causes a great discrepancy in education, thus creating a “poverty chain” in which poverty is inherited by children from parents.

Today, children living in economically-challenged households are only able to obtain higher education through the self-sacrifice of a family member.

Emotionally and physically, mothers and fathers drive themselves into the ground for their children. Older sisters and brothers forgo higher education, give up their dreams and start working for the good of their younger sisters or brothers.

Even on an international perspective, sacrifice by a family member is required to pay the high tuition fees of university, colleges and vocational schools.

４．Impossible to study

In addition to economic difficulty, poverty deprives children of the motivation and academic ability needed to enter universities and other institutions of higher learning.

Food, health and an environment conducive to concentrating are prerequisites for studying. Beginning from financial poverty, child poverty destroys the conditions necessary to concentrate on their studies.

Today, taking 3 meals a day, having a personal desk for studying, and going to cram schools are all commonplace for students. Poverty deprives many children of such opportunities.

５．Tokyo Youth Meeting

The Law on Measures to Counter Child Poverty was enacted on January 17th, 2014. In July, the Japanese government planned to formulate general principles which embody the ideas of the law. The content of these general principles will determine the effectiveness of future measures to combat child poverty.

On May 17th, university students held a student rally entitled Tokyo Youth Meeting at the Nippon Seinenkan in Sendagaya, Tokyo. The meeting was mainly comprised of students from 12 groups from throughout Japan. Students drafted Youth Meeting Guidelines and presented them to representatives of each party in the Japanese national diet.

６．Youth Meeting Guidelines

The most important theme is to thoroughly expose the often unrecognized issue of child poverty. It is necessary to strongly advance child poverty surveys and research, fields which are lagging when compared to England and the United States, as well as to comprehensively assess the conditions of child poverty.

It is also essential to establish numerical targets for goals which are surveyed. Moreover, we must ensure that effective measures are taken. It is important to set goals for reducing the child poverty rate and single-parent poverty rate which were previously discussed.

Furthermore, it is necessary to perpetuate the meeting to review child poverty measures, a group in which I currently participate. We must establish a Council on Child Poverty Measures.

In order to incorporate the social needs of children, we must create a system for enabling children themselves to participate in the review and verification of measures.

I hope to create a Child Poverty Measures Fund which will receive funding not only from the government, but also from a wide range of private sources. It is important to establish a system which allows society as a whole to support regional activities such as academic support and after-school programs run by NPOs which have gradually evolved even while struggling to procure financing.

７．Children are the future

Children are the future. We university students are members of the current society. We can greatly contribute to protecting Japan’s future by taking repeated and diligent action.

Right now, there are children who are neglected and alone. This means that the future of Japan itself is being neglected. Now is the time for university students to show our true strength.