TOKYO — On Wednesday, Japan announced that it will halt its voluntary contributions to a United Nations committee focused on women’s rights. This decision follows the committee’s recent call to abolish Japan’s male-only imperial succession system.

The call for change came from a report released in October by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which recommended Japan amend the Imperial House Law to permit the possibility of a female emperor. The current law, established in 1947 and reflective of conservative, pre-war familial values, restricts succession to males only. It also mandates that female members of the royal family who marry outside the imperial lineage must forfeit their royal titles.

In a statement, Japan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Toshihiro Kitamura, indicated that the CEDAW will not be included in Japan’s list of beneficiaries for its annual voluntary funding. Japan has expressed its desire to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which oversees the CEDAW, requesting that its contributions not be allocated to the committee’s operations. Additionally, the planned visit of CEDAW committee members to Japan has been suspended.

In response to the committee’s report, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi characterized the findings as “regrettable” and “inappropriate,” stating that Japan had asked for the removal of the specific reference from the document. Kitamura reaffirmed Japan’s stance, arguing that the criteria for imperial succession should not be viewed as an issue of fundamental rights. He insisted that the male-only succession rule does not infringe upon women’s basic rights nor constitutes gender discrimination.

Currently, Japan’s imperial family comprises just 16 members, including only four men. The youngest of these is Prince Hisahito, who represents the last male heir in the line of succession, raising concerns about the future continuity of the imperial line. Nevertheless, the administration is exploring options to maintain succession stability through means that do not include women, such as adopting male descendants from former noble families that lost their titles post-World War II.