E/C.12/1/Add.67 page 4 22. The Committee is concerned about reported incidents in nuclear power stations and the lack of transparency and disclosure of necessary information regarding the safety of such installations, and also the lack of advance nationwide and community preparation for the prevention and handling of nuclear accidents. 23. The Committee is also concerned about the consequences of the recent changes to the public pension system, which involved a gradual increase in the age of eligibility from 60 to 65 years. If the retirement age and the age for eligibility for public pension benefits do not coincide, there may be a loss of income for those who are obliged to retire before the age of 65. 24. The Committee is further concerned about the absence of a minimum pension and the persistent de facto gender inequality in the pension system which perpetuates the income gap between men and women. 25. The Committee notes with concern that discrimination against persons with disabilities continues to exist in law and practice, particularly in relation to labour and social security rights. 26. The Committee expresses its concern that the compensation offered to wartime “comfort women” by the Asian Women’s Fund, which is primarily financed through private funding, has not been deemed an acceptable measure by the women concerned. 27. The Committee is concerned that despite large resettlement programmes planned and executed by Hyogo Prefecture in the aftermath of the great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, the population most affected has not always been consulted adequately, and as a consequence many single older persons now live in environments totally unfamiliar to them with little or no personal attention. Apparently, little or no psychiatric or psychological treatment is being offered for people who have lost their families. Many resettled earthquake victims who are over 60 years of age lack community centres, access to health centres and outpatient nursing. 28. The Committee notes with concern that the poorer sections of the population in the Hanshin-Awaji areas affected by the earthquake are finding it increasingly difficult to finance their building reconstruction. Some were forced to sell their property in order to pay off their existing mortgages without being able to rebuild their houses. 29. The Committee is concerned about the large number of homeless persons throughout the country, especially in the Osaka/Kamagasaki area. The Committee is further concerned that the State party has no comprehensive plan to combat homelessness. 30. The Committee is also concerned about forced evictions, especially of the homeless from their temporary abode and those who have occupied houses for a long time in the Utoro district. In this regard, the Committee is particularly concerned about the summary procedure whereby provisional eviction orders are granted by the courts without any reasons being given, under the Court Order of Provisional Disposition Procedure, without being subject to a stay of execution, thus rendering any right of appeal meaningless and in effect transforming provisional eviction orders into permanent ones, in breach of the guidelines of the Committee established in its general comments Nos. 4 and 7.