www.debito.org
ON RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA IN JAPAN
Reports to and from UN Special Rapporteur Mr Doudou Diene
(July 2005, January 2006, and May 2006)
INFORMATION SITE
沖縄タイムズ０６年５月１７日：ディエン国連特別報告者が講演：「基地の集中・騒音・環境破壊は沖縄に対する差別」
琉球新聞０６年５月１７日：「基地集中は差別 政府に是正再報告へ」
The Special Rapporteur welcomes information from people with knowledge on the ground.
E-mail Doudou Diene at sr-racism@ohchr.org
"As a world power in an era of globalization,
Japan has to expand to the outside world. But its society is still closed, spiritually
and intellectually centered."
--Doudou Diene of Senegal, special rapporteur of the Commission on Human
Rights on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance, who will arrive in Japan this weekend to assess the situation of minorities
and foreigners in Japanese society. (Kyodo News, Friday, July 1, 2005) http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=quote&id=1478
Related article pre-visit:
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&id=342022
POST-VISIT UPDATE (Feb 15, 2006):
"RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IS PRACTICED UNDISTURBED IN JAPAN"
" IT CAN HARDLY BE ARGUED THAT JAPAN IS RESPECTING ITS INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS"
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, Sixty-second session, Report E/CN.4/2006/16/Add.2
Final report on this visit from Doudou Diene to United Nations, dated January 24, 2006.
Click here to page down to more details.
Read the Japanese translation by human rights group IMADR (pdf file) by clicking below:
ドゥドゥ・ディエン人種主義・人種差別に関する国連特別報告者による日本訪問報告書の発表
報告書の日本語仮訳（IMADR-JC訳・平野裕二監訳）：
http://www.imadr.org/japan/jc/icerd.project/DieneReport060307forWEB.pdf
(Anchor site: http://www.imadr.org/japan/)
国連のディエン特別報告者の東京、大阪、沖縄訪問
２００６年５月１３日から１８日まで、「現代的形態の人種主義、人種差別、外国人嫌悪／排斥および関連する不寛容に関する特別報告者」のドゥ
ドゥ・ディエン氏は、昨年７月の訪問かつ本年１月の国連へ日本国内差別の現状の報告のフォローアップをしました。招待者の人権擁護団体「反差別国際運動日
本委員会」（IMADR-JC) の案内サイトは
http://imadr.org/japan/index.html
訪問のスケジュールは
http://imadr.org/japan/event/2006/dien.japanvisit.html
デェエン氏は沖縄に訪問し、現地の新聞はこう報道した：
沖縄タイムズ０６年５月１７日：「ディエン国連特別報告者が講演：『基地の集中・騒音・環境破壊は沖縄に対する差別』」
琉球新聞０６年５月１７日：「基地集中は差別 政府に是正再報告へ」
（記事はここで読めます：）
http://www.debito.org/rapporteur.html#ryukyu051706
東京と大阪訪問に関するニューズ報道（毎日、読売、共同通信のサイトではアーカイブを長期間的に検索する機能を設けてくれない）は持っていないので、すみません、英語のみの共同、Japan Times とVoice of Americaの記事は：
http://www.debito.org/rapporteur.html#relatedarticlesmay2006
私も大阪と東京での集会と記者会見に出席させていただきました。私の報告をもっと詳しく英語で記録したが (http://www.debito.org/rapporteur.html#mayfollowup ) 、約言すると、ディエンのスピーチらのポイントは
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
● 人種差別と排外主義は一回対処法を採って放置するものではない。絶えず対処しないといけないものである。差別はそもそも突然「変化」する現象である。
● 人種差別と排外主義は全世界に更に拡散している。「反テロ措置」として最新の変化の現しである。
● 最大の政府レベルからも適切な対処法は撤廃の法整備のみではなく、差別などを指摘、賠償かつ罰則する整備も不可欠。
● 差別の現しはそもそも氷山の一角である。よって潜在的な排外主義の原
因、差別の由来を対処するも不可欠。例えば、差別意識と意図はよく歴史から由来する。解決するために国連は援助ができる。例えば、UNESCOは以前アフ
リカ、中央アジア、及び中途アメリカの各国の歴史専門家を集めて、各国が認められる地方の歴史の本を発行し、国家間の摩擦の緩和ともなったようだ。同様に
日中韓などの外交にとって役に立つのと思う。国連にそう推薦する。
● 取りあえず、ディエン氏は国連特別報告者として世界中の差別の実情を報告する。日本のみではなく、他国数カ国にも訪問し各国の締約した条約などの通りをどれくらい守っているのかを調査して報告する。よって、今回日本にてフォローアップを。
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
ブラボー、ディエンさん！行っていらっしゃい！また報告のために調査をしにきて下さい。
UPDATE MAY 2006:
Diene visits Japan again, Okinawa, Osaka, and Tokyo, May 13 through 18. Page down for more details.
ON RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA IN JAPAN
Report to UN Special Rapporteur Mr Doudou Diene, delivered July 6, 2005, Tokyo,
Japan
Author: ARUDOU Debito, naturalized Japanese citizen (debito@debito.org, http://www.debito.org)
(This version of the handout includes links to all citations and sources
cited to subtantiate claims made within the report.)
CLICK HERE TO PAGE DOWN TO UPDATE, JUNE 12, 2005,
WITH FULL REPORT OF MR DIENE'S JULY 3-12, 2005 JAPAN VISIT
● Racial discrimination (RD), as defined under the CERD, is getting worse
in Japan, and the government (GOJ) is not taking effective measures to curtail or
eliminate it.
● RD has been visible, via signs on businesses saying "JAPANESE ONLY"
permitted entry, in at least fifteen Japanese cities since 1993: Public baths
in Otaru (Hokkaido); Bars, baths, karaoke parlor, and restaurant in Monbetsu City
(Hokkaido); Public bath and sports store in Wakkanai (Hokkaido); Pachinko parlor,
restaurant, and nightlife in Sapporo (Hokkaido); Bars in Misawa (Aomori Pref); Disco
in Akita City (Akita Pref), Bars in Koshigaya (Saitama Pref); Hotel in Shinjuku (Tokyo
Shinjuku-ku); Women's (i.e. for women customers) Relaxation Boutique in Aoyama Doori
(Tokyo Minato-ku); Bar in Ogikubo (Tokyo Suginami-ku); Stores and nightclubs in Hamamatsu
(Shizuoka Pref); Public baths in Kofu City (Yamanashi Pref); Nightlife in Isesaki
City (Gunma Pref) ; Bars in Nagoya City (Aichi Pref) ; Bar in Kurashiki (Okayama
Pref). Photos of known exclusionary signs at http://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html.
Managements' criteria for refusing "foreigners" service has indeed been
racial in nature, as many have turned away the author despite showing proof of Japanese
citizenship.
● Japan's Administrative Branches, when alerted, have done nothing (Sapporo
Bureau of Human Rights 1999-2000, Otaru Department of Public Health 1999), citing
their lack of jurisdiction or punishment mechanism (cf.
Japan Times (JT) article dated Jul 8 '03). Otaru City Government (1999-2005)
cited the lack of a specific law against RD to enforce, claiming both to the media
and in court they have no authority to stop private-sector businesses from displaying
exclusionary signs (Otaru City 1999-2005), taking only cursory measures which
were dropped once the media's attention shifted (cf. Arudou book JAPANESE
ONLY Ch 1-3).
● Japan's Legislative Branches, both local and national, have refused to
pass laws. Legislators (Otaru
City, Wakkanai
City, Monbetsu City, Sapporo
City, Hokkaido Prefecture,
Dietmembers Takemura Yasuko et al 1999-2004) have all claimed essentially it
is "too early" for legislation). All draft anti-discrimination legislation
submitted 2000-2004 to all
cities and Hokkaido Prefecture have been buried in committee and voided with election
turnover. Draft bill submitted to Diet Upper and Lower House in March 2004 has
seen inconsequential movement. Thus, despite effecting the CERD in 1996, Japan nearly
a decade later still has no law whatsoever against RD. GOJ argues (in response to
CERD A/56/18 (2001), Japan's answer Section 5(1)) that
Japan needs no specific legislation because the existing judicial system offers effective
restraint and redress. It does not:
● Japan's Judicial System, as witnessed in the Otaru
Hot Springs Lawsuit (2001-2005), refuses to hold the GOJ accountable for inaction
to prevent RD. The Sapporo Lower Court ruled (2002)
that Defendant Otaru City was not liable for damages, citing that legislation is
"a political matter", and "not an absolute duty". Although courts
ruled against the discriminatory bath house Defendant, it also ruled that Defendant
was not guilty of RD in specific, rather of "unrational discrimination"
(fugouri teki sabetsu), for superseding the "socially acceptable bounds
of discrimination" (even though this legal argument has been criticized as invalid
by the CCPR Committee twice, most recently CCPR/C/79/Add.102
1998, Section 11). Hence the ruling avoids any litmus test for RD in future legal
precedent. On appeal, the Sapporo High Court (2004)
affirmed the ruling for Otaru City, saying the lack of a law was "not legally
actionable" on the part of Plaintiffs, citing the "separation of powers"
(i.e. the Judiciary cannot force the Legislative to pass laws). The Supreme Court
(April 2005) rejected
the case for consideration, thus exhausting all domestic judicial avenues. Thus the
Japanese Judiciary refuses to enforce the CERD (even though as a treaty it is considered
"superior to domestic law"), and offers insufficient redress--in that everyone
discriminated against must sue at great expense for many years, to receive a ruling
that will not even judge the act as RD. I will make a more detailed presentation
on the Otaru Lawsuit to the CERD Committee directly in Feb-Mar 2006.
● Meanwhile, official bodies are promoting fear and hatred of "foreigners"
in Japan. Following Tokyo Governor Ishihara's 2000 speech to the Japanese Self-Defense
Forces, calling on them to round up "bad foreigners" on sight, the National
Police Agency (NPA) and Immigration have made public statements and issued public
signs and pamphlets warning people to be on guard for "bad", "criminal",
"illegal" foreigner "gangs", without any sophistication of
balancing reports with press releases depicting "foreigner as immigrant taxpayer
and resident". The NPA has continuously distorted foreign crime statistics in
their press releases (inter alia lumping visa violations together with violent
crimes, and avoiding comparison with a rise in Japanese crime--cf.
JT Oct 4 '02), while creating websites (still in existence at NPA central and
Fukuoka division) for anonymous "snitching" on foreigners for any reason
whatsoever (including a selectable option of "hatred" (ken'o) cf. JT Mar 30 '04). The National
Research Institute of Police Science, incorrectly believing that foreigners and Japanese
are genetically different, has received 175 million yen (2002-2006) from the GOJ
to develop a DNA "foreignness index" in crime scene research (cf.
JT Jan 13 '04). From late 2004 onwards, the NPA has bent amendments to hotel
management laws (requiring tourists to display passports) to deputize hotel
management--demanding photocopying of passports even for non-Japanese residents
and citizens with international roots as a condition for stay (an illegal act,
cf.JT Mar 8 '05), for "anti-terrorism" (the
presumption being that foreign-looking people are more likely to be terrorists).
This is by definition racial profiling, and it is being sponsored by the GOJ. This
has caused Japan's public image of "foreigner" to shift dramatically since
2000 from "misunderstood outsider" to "social menace"--so much
so that on April 12, 2003, the GOJ published the
results of a PM Cabinet poll, saying that only 54% of the public believe that
foreigners should have the same right as Japanese, down from past results 65.5% (1998)
and 68.3% (1993). A justice ministry official was quoted as citing "foreign
crime" as the cause. Why "human rights for foreigners" are still being
presented as an option to the public is uncertain (notwithstanding CCPR's criticism
that "human rights standards are not determined by popularity polls": CCPR 1998 ibid, Section 7).
This is quantifiable social damage, and in Japan's rapidly multiculturalizing society
(with international marriages of around 40,000 couples per year--with the ethnicity
of Japan's children unrecognized and unmeasured by Japan's Census Bureau), it is
increasingly difficult to determine "Japaneseness" and "foreignness"
on appearance alone. Japan is a racially diverse society, and RD must be checked,
curtailed, and eliminated by legislation. The GOJ, despite its CERD obligations,
will continue to refuse to establish anti-racial-discrimination laws for the foreseeable
future.
ARTERY INFORMATI0N SITES
This report with links substantiating each claim made above:
http://www.debito.org/rapporteur.html
The Otaru Hot Springs Lawsuit information site:
http://www.debito.org/otarulawsuit.html
Photo Substantiation of Exclusionary Signs nationwide, and links to case studies:
http://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html
Koizumi Cabinet policy push against "foreign crime":
http://www.debito.org/foreigncrimeputsch.html
National Police Agency racially-based campaigns against "foreigners":
http://www.debito.org/TheCommunity/communityissues.html#police
Japan Times newspaper articles on the NPA's "anti-terrorism" policies:
http://www.debito.org/publications.html#JOURNALISTIC
April 12, 2003 PM Cabinet survey on whether foreigners deserve equal human rights:
http://www.debito.org/jinkenreport0403.html
Case Study on the Ministry of Justice's Bureau of Human Rights' ineffectuality:
http://www.debito.org/policeapology.html
Information on the author: http://www.debito.org
His book: JAPANESE ONLY: The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in
Japan (Akashi Shoten Inc 2004):
http://www.debito.org/japaneseonly.html
REPORT ENDS
(Freely Forwardable)
Hi All. Update:
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR VISITS JAPAN
REPORTS DOMESTIC RACIAL DISCRIMINATION "DEEP AND PROFOUND"
A briefing from Arudou Debito (http://www.debito.org)
July 12, 2005
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"As a world power in an era of globalization, Japan has to expand to the
outside world. But its society is still closed, spiritually and intellectually centered."
--Doudou Diene of Senegal, special rapporteur of the Commission on Human
Rights on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance, who will arrive in Japan this weekend to assess the situation of minorities
and foreigners in Japanese society.--Kyodo News, Friday, July 1, 2005)
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=quote&id=1478
Related article pre-visit:
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&id=342022
This report is organized thus (click to page down):
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
1) RAPPORTEUR DIENE'S NINE-DAY SURVEY AROUND JAPAN
2) INFORMATION PROVIDED HIM BY CONCERNED PARTIES
3) KYODO NEWS ARTICLE: PRELIM REPORT FINDS J DISCRIM "DEEP
AND PROFOUND"; DIENE SNUBBED BY TOKYO GOV ISHIHARA
4) JAPAN TIMES, BBC AND VOA ARTICLES ON DIENE VISIT
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
1) RAPPORTEUR DIENE'S NINE-DAY SURVEY AROUND JAPAN
First, cursory profiles of Mr Diene and his work may be found at
http://www.unic.or.jp/new/pr05-057-E.htm
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/gashc3798.doc.htm
Mr Diene's Japan schedule was a full one. According to primary sources, his schedule
was as follows:
=========================
July 3: Arrives in Japan
July 4: Tours Osaka, meets local govt, Burakumin Groups
July 5: Tours Kyoto, meets local govt., Zainichi Korean Groups
July 6: Tours Tokyo, meets Tokyo govt., NGOs working for minority/foreigner rights
July 7: Meets national govt., then more NGOs, arrives Sapporo evening
July 8: Meets Sapporo and Hokkaido govt., Ainu in Biratori, Hokkaido
July 9: Meets Ainu in Nibutani, Hokkaido, arrives Nagoya evening.
July 10: Meets immigrant workers groups in Nagoya
July 11: Meets national govt., press conference to offer preliminary findings
July 12: Departs Japan
=========================
Mr Diene was here at the invitation of the Japanese government (GOJ), the first UN
visit of its kind to Japan. He had specifically asked to be invited, and it would
have been very bad form for Japan to refuse (especially these days when asking for
a Security Council seat). I met with Mr Diene, his secretary, and two UN translators
(French-Japanese; Mr Diene and I spoke English together) on four separate occasions,
every day between July 5 and 8. An eyewitness account of the events follows:
JULY 5: UTORO, UJI, BETWEEN KYOTO AND NARA
This is an area designated for Zainichi Ethnic Koreans, with often ramshackle
houses and rudimentary services (some houses did not have running water until 1988,
and sewerage is still open-air). One hundred households in clear poverty abut a prosperous
Ground Self Defense Forces base--which was originally built by conscripted Utoro
residents before WWII, then changed hands to SCAP and back to the GSDF. Dirt-poor,
most of the 230 residents have survived by being self-employed (as they would not
be hired by regular companies). Even to the casual observer (taxis from nearest station
Kintetsu Ohkubo don't know the area, no vending machines, even weak cellphone signals),
Utoro is remote and laid fallow. Elderly residents (who were not grandfathered in
when the national pension plans were revised in 1982 to remove the Nationality Clause)
have no retirement funds (and are suing the government to get them in another long,
class-action-style lawsuit), despite paying taxes and into the plan. The Utoro community
also receives little to no social benefits for their tax outlay from the state for
generations (even the local meeting house we met in was self-funded). To top it off,
after an underworld Zainichi property developer bought up the whole parcel of land
from Nissan in 1989 for a mere 2000 man yen, the residents have been threatened with
eviction, and have been squatting ever since. That is what I remember after witnessing
the tour and the tete-a-tetes between Mr. Diene and the residents.
Related articles:
On Diene's Utoro Visit:
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=342557
Japan Times Community Page on Utoro eviction threat (today, July 12, 2005)
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20050712zg.htm
What impressed me right away about the proceedings was just how attentive Mr Diene
was to all the presentations and cries du coeur from the old, withered residents,
who described their lives of conscription for military ends and relegation to this
land. Mr Diene even made sure to ask for experiences from people who were attending
but not designated speakers. Also inspiring was the palpable sense of relief one
felt in the residents--who seemed so happy at last to be telling their stories to,
of all places, the United Nations.
This feeling carried over into the next days:
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
2) INFORMATION PROVIDED MR DIENE BY NGOS IN TOKYO
JULY 6-7, 2005
After Mr Diene spent the morning questioning regional governments (mornings were
usually devoted to GOJ boilerplate, afternoons to residents), he arrived to hear
more testimony from representatives of action groups and victims of discrimination.
Attending were spokespeople from sixteen different groups, including Ijuuren, Zentoitsu
Worker's Union, Shimin Gakkou Center, NUGW, JCLU, RAIK, Mintouren, Burakumin Liberation
League, and Ainu and Okinawan indigenous people leagues. A Bangledeshi worker talked
about losing the use of his arm after an accident in a Japanese factory, after neither
the employer nor the police (who took him into custody for a visa violation) would
afford him proper medical treatment. A doctor also talked about cases he witnessed
in Immigration detention centers of beatings and illness (such as necrosis from untreated
diabetes) from improper care of inmates. Others talked about egregious labor and
family issues that result from a lack of an immigration policy. NUGW talked about
the lack of job security for educators, and Ijuuren talked about hate speech in the
political arena and in racism in police enforcement of laws.
I attended as an individual and was miraculously allowed a full 25 minutes to speak.
To save time, I read from a handout (made public before, visible at http://www.debito.org/rapporteur.html).
I also gave him (over the course of 3 days) three information packets, specifically
including the following:
The Rogues' Gallery of exclusionary signs
http://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html
A roundup of discriminatory activities in Japan
http://www.debito.org/handout.html
The exclusionism of the National Sports Festivals
http://www.debito.org/TheCommunity/kokutaiproject.html
The racially-based exclusionism of Imperially-sponsored English-language contests
http://www.debito.org/TheCommunity/takamadoproject.html
Academic Apartheid in Japan's university systems (written by Stephanie Houghton)
Artery site on the issue at
http://www.debito.org/activistspage.html#ninkisei
DNA Racial Profiling policy in Japan's National Institute of Police Science
http://www.debito.org/NPAracialprofiling.html
And more. What follows is a copy of the index I gave him for just packet two of supplementary
materials, which I printed up and presented him in Sapporo on July 8 (it's amazing
how easy it was to collate all this after a decade of reporting):
=====================
Further substantiation of signs and exclusionary attitudes,
and how the GOJ's actions are ineffectual. Case studies:
1) CASE STUDY ON "JAPANESE ONLY" SIGNS IN MISAWA, AOMORI PREFECTURE,
JAPAN
Dates, times, addresses, and photos of signs, from http://www.debito.org/misawaexclusions.html,
with updates including similar situations in Akita City, Akita Pref., and Kofu City,
Yamanashi Pref. 31 pages.
2) CASE STUDY ON WORLD CUP 2002 IN JAPAN, PARTICULARLY SAPPORO
a) Index page (http://www.debito.org/WorldCup2002.html)
2 pages.
b) One essay linked from this page entitled ESSAY ONE: "JAPAN'S WORLD CUP
FIASCO" (http://www.debito.org/susukinosign.html#report)
(18 pages), including a 2001 comment from a Miyagi Pref. Assemblyman
about "unwanted pregnancies from foreigner hooligan rapes" which
was never retracted. The rest of the essays can be accessed by going to the Index
page in a) above.
3) CASE STUDY ON "JAPANESE ONLY" SIGNS IN MONBETSU, HOKKAIDO (Nov
18, 2003), on how we followed-up on our research (see Arudou Debito book JAPANESE
ONLY pp 219-237) of years of exclusionary signs not only remaining within the
city, but spreading to businesses not related to the nightlife trade. Includes New
York Times article dated April 23, 2004 on the situation (printed in the International
Herald Tribune as "Unwelcome Mat--Bars in a Japanese port keep Russians outside",
from http://www.debito.org/iht042304.html).
Total 14 pages.
4) CASE STUDY ENTITLED "RESTRICTIONS ON FOREIGN CUSTOM IN KOFU CITY, YAMANASHI-KEN,
A REPEAT OF THE LOCAL AIDS PANIC EXCLUSIONS OF 1992". How an anti-foreigner
panic resurfaced a decade later in public bathhouses in this city behind Mount Fuji
(from http://www.debito.org/kofuexclusions.html)
19 pages.
5) CASE STUDY: "INSTANT CHECKPOINTS" PARTS THREE THROUGH SEVEN
How a random racially-motivated police stop-and-search resulted in no police
apology. Even the Ministry of Justice's Bureau of Human Rights not only refused to
handle the situation, but also claimed that releasing requested documents regarding
my case would be a violation of my own privacy. (from http://www.debito.org/policeapology.html)
22 pages.
More on state-sponsored fear of foreigners:
6) JAPAN TIMES ARTICLE MAY 24, 2005 (printed from website) ENTITLED
"HERE COMES THE FEAR"--Japan's proposed Anti-terrorist Law (implemented
2006-7) creates legal conundrums for foreign residents. 4 pages.
http://www.debito.org/japantimes052405.html
7) REPORTS ENTITLED "POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM AND FOREIGN CRIME IN JAPAN",
and "THE 2003 KOIZUMI CABINET ANTI-FOREIGN-CRIME-PUTSCH IS OVERLOOKED BY
THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE PRESS" (from http://www.debito.org/opportunism.html
and http://www.debito.org/foreigncrimeputsch.html
respectively). Includes Japan Times article of Oct 7, 2005 "Time to Come Clean
on Foreign Crime" ( http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20031007zg.htm
) referred to in the report. Total 18 pages.
How this situation is not changing legislatively or socially:
8) LOBBYING THE SAPPORO CITY ASSEMBLY FOR AN ANTI DISCRIMINATION ORDINANCE
(CHINJOU) SPRING 2004 (on one piece of legislation we have proposed, excerpted
from http://www.debito.org/sapporocitylobby2004.html).
Includes article from Hokkaido Shinbun newspaper with a picture of Olaf Karthaus
and myself lobbying, and copies of the legislative proposals submitted. Total 28
pages.
9) JAPAN REPUBLISHES "LITTLE BLACK SAMBO" IN JAPANESE (from April
2005, despite protests).
Includes a parody which tries to illustrate what's wrong with this book by portraying
the protagonist as a stereotypical Japanese. From http://www.debito.org/chibikurosanbo.html.
23 pages.
======================================
Index ends. I also put out a message to my mailing lists to have people send in their
experiences of being discriminated against. Within hours of his arrival in Sapporo,
I presented Mr Diene with twenty emailed experiences from people around Japan. (Thanks
for the input, everyone!)
The first of the final two days we met, in Hokkaido, we spent looking at remnants
of World Cup 2002 in Sapporo (two places still have exclusionary signs up more than
three years after the event). Four of us (Mr Diene, his secretary, fellow Otaru lawsuit
plaintiff Olaf Karthaus, and myself) then had a delightful evening without any handlers
(he had cancelled all appointments that evening) just supping ramen in Susukino.
To get to know a UN rep without his necktie on was surreal--and the very act of him
being in Japan was a dream come true for many people.
Our final evening, July 9, was spent in Biratori's Ainu village, where friend and
Ainu activist Kayano Shiro introduced us to his father, former Dietmember Kayano
Shigeru, and told us about the hardships that Ainu have faced: illegal seizure of
their ancestral lands for Nibutani Dam, denial of their ceremonial fishing rights,
and a long history of being refused the right to be Ainu (practice of language and
culture made illegal under the prewar Douwa Seisaku). Not to mention discrimination
in employment, marriage, and access to public goods. Even today, the GOJ does not
recognize the Ainu as a "full minority" (only a nominal one, from 1997),
which would entitle them to government funding for cultural practices.
All of this clearly had an effect on Mr Diene's preliminary reports:
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
3) KYODO NEWS ARTICLE: PRELIM REPORT FINDS J DISCRIM "DEEP
AND PROFOUND"; DIENE SNUBBED BY TOKYO GOV ISHIHARA
I reprint the whole article, as it is instructive:
DISCRIMINATION IN JAPAN "DEEP", U.N. REP SAYS AFTER NINE DAY-VISIT
Kyodo News, Monday, July 11, 2005 at 20:02 JST
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=&id=343139
TOKYO--Discrimination in Japan is "deep and profound,"
with government leaders lacking recognition of the depth of the problem and the public
having a "strong xenophobic drive," a U.N. special rapporteur said Monday
in wrapping up a nine-day visit in Japan.
Doudou Diene of Senegal, appointed by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, called
for stronger political will at the highest level to combat the issue, for Japan to
enact a national law condemning racism as is obligatory under international conventions,
and to improve its public education about minorities in the country.
"It will be a long-term task to change people's mentality and it must be done
through education," said Diene, special rapporteur on contemporary forms of
racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
During his stay since July 3, Diene met with officials of both national and local
authorities to determine the extent Japan is complying with its international human
rights obligations. He also visited communities of minorities such as the aboriginal
Ainu, the "burakumin," formerly social outcasts in feudal Japan, and people
of Korean and Chinese descent.
From these meetings, Diene concluded there was a clear gap between the perceptions
of the reality of discrimination between government officials and the minority communities.
Japan has liaisons nationwide that aim to eliminate discrimination against the "burakumin"
and the Diet passed a law in 1997 to help preserve Ainu traditions and culture.
But citing cases in which the "burakumin" were listed by private groups
and discriminated against in employment, Diene criticized the lack of government
action to combat such practice and said, "I find this shocking and terrible."
"Japan has no comprehensive national law against discrimination," Diene
said at a news conference. "I strongly recommend such a national law be drafted
not only based on international instruments Japan takes part in, but that the minorities
concerned have to be consulted."
A spokesman of the Justice Ministry, which Diene visited last Wednesday, declined
to comment on the special rapporteur's remarks but said a human rights protection
bill is under deliberation in parliament.
Describing the discrimination against the Ainu, "burakumin," and Korean
and Chinese residents as being "deeply rooted" in historical and cultural
aspects, Diene urged the Japanese government to set up an organ at the national level
to promote equality for minorities.
Having examined samples of Japanese junior high school textbooks provided to him
by the education ministry, Diene said Japan must ensure that the roles and contributions
of minorities to the country be taught accurately and appropriately so that Japanese
people have the right perception.
Without specifically naming Japan, Diene also criticized the current global trend
in which xenophobic sentiment stemming from measures to combat terrorism and illegal
immigration has "slowly made its way into the platforms of democratic parties."
Diene said he had requested a meeting with Tokyo Gov Shintaro Ishihara, known for
his nationalistic views and controversial remarks against foreigners, but was denied
an appointment.
But the special rapporteur gave a positive appraisal of the Japanese government's
cooperation with his visit and said this indicated "in a positive way"
that Japan is willing to accept recommendations to tackle the problem.
Diene said he shared his preliminary findings with the Japanese government Monday
morning and will wait for Japan's response before completing a final report to be
submitted to the Commission on Human Rights next March.
He will also present a summary of his findings in an interim report to the U.N. General
Assembly this autumn. It was the first time a U.N. special rapporteur on racism has
visited Japan. (Kyodo News)
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
4) JAPAN TIMES, BBC AND VOA ON DIENE
JAPAN RACISM "DEEP AND PROFOUND"
By Chris Hogg, BBC News, Tokyo Monday, 11 July, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4671687.stm
An independent investigator for the UN says racism in
Japan is deep and profound, and the government does not recognise the depth of the
problem.
Doudou Diene, a UN special rapporteur on racism and xenophobia, was speaking at the
end of a nine-day tour of the country.
He said Japan should introduce new legislation to combat discrimination.
Mr Diene travelled to several Japanese cities during his visit, meeting minority
groups and touring slums.
Japan mulls multicultural dawn
He said that although the government helped to organise his visit, he felt many officials
failed to recognise the seriousness of the racism and discrimination minorities suffered.
He was also concerned that politicians used racist or nationalist themes, as he put
it, to whip up popular emotions. He singled out the treatment of ethnic Koreans and
Chinese and indigenous tribes.
Mr Diene says he plans to recommend that Japan enact a law against discrimination,
which he said should be drawn up in consultation with minority groups.
He said he would now wait for the Japanese government to respond to his comments
before submitting a report to the United Nations.
UN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATOR RAPS JAPAN FOR DISCRMINATION
By Steve Herman, Voice of America, Tokyo11 July 2005
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-07-11-voa9.cfm
As Japan makes a push to join the U.N. Security Council,
it is getting some unwelcome news. An independent investigator from the U.N. Commission
on Human Rights says he will report that discrimination in Japan is "deep and
profound."
After nine days traveling across Japan, visiting with officials, non-governmental
organizations and minorities, the special rapporteur of the U.N. Human Rights Commission
says he is troubled by what he heard.
Mr. Doudou Diene told reporters in Tokyo he found no strong political will to combat
racism and discrimination. He also noted what he called a strong xenophobic drive
among the Japanese public. "This xenophobic drive is expressed by associating
minorities, certain minorities, to crime, to violence, to dirt," he said.
Mr. Diene said the worst discrimination appears to be the problems a Japanese social
outcast group, known as "burakumin" face with finding housing and employment.
He called their condition "shocking and terrible," and said their plight
would be included in his preliminary report.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima said the situation is improving, because
government has been working with the business community to reduce discrimination
in the workplace. "We believe that those efforts have been bearing fruit. There
are [sic] less discrimination in society right now in Japan, compared with 10 years,
or 20-years ago," he said.
With a surge of Chinese students and workers in Japan in recent years, discrimination
against other Asians including long-time Korean residents, is very much in the public
eye.
The special investigator said racism against Koreans and Chinese is deeply rooted
in Japan because of history and culture.
Mr. Diene lamented that he was not able to meet any state ministers during his visit
and that Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, who has made controversial remarks about
foreigners, was apparently too busy to meet him. But the independent U.N. official
praised Japan's government for fully cooperating with his investigation, saying it
had not hindered his visit in any way.
Mr. Diene said Japan needs to pass a national law condemning racism, discrimination
and xenophobia. "As a special rapporteur, and based on international instruments,
which are my basis of work, I will certainly strongly recommend such a national law,"
he said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Takashima said Japan is trying very hard to reduce the
problem. "Because of the trend of the decreased birth rate in this country and
very rapid aging society, we, after all, need to have the helping hand from various
ethnicities, foreign workers, foreign workers and so forth," he said.
Mr. Diene's visit marks the first time a U.N. special investigator on racism has
come to Japan.
He has made similar visits to more than 10 countries, and is to submit his final
report to the U.N. General Assembly in March, after receiving an official Japanese
response to his preliminary report, which will be issued in several months.
Mr. Diene declined to say whether Tokyo's human-rights attitude should have an influence
on Japanese suitability for a U.N. Security Council permanent seat. He said that
issue was not part of his mandate.
Many countries that have been targeted for criticism by special rapporteurs have
chosen to essentially ignore their reports. As Mr. Diene notes, the U.N. investigators
have "no guns or armies" to force any country to make changes.
U.N. CALLS FOR ANTIDISCRIMINATION LAW
Investigator says Japan must acknowledge its racism
Japan Times, July 12, 2005, By Masami ITO
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050712a1.htm
The government urgently needs to acknowledge that deep
discrimination against minorities, Korean and Chinese residents and other foreigners
exists in Japan, an independent investigator said Monday.
Doudou Diene, appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Commission in 2002 as special rapporteur
on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,
was in Japan for more than a week on a fact-finding mission.
As a way to prevent further racial discrimination, a national law must be enacted,
Diene, from Senegal, told a news conference at the United Nations University in Shibuya
Ward, Tokyo.
Although Japan became a member of the U.N. International Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1995, it has yet to establish a national
law to prevent discrimination.
Creating such a law "is the first step to combat racial discrimination,"
Diene said.
During his trip, Diene has met with central and local government officials as well
as the Supreme Court and the National Police Agency.
Although some officials admitted there is discrimination, others said "there
are social differences but no ethnic or racial discrimination," according to
Diene.
At the news conference, Diene slammed the policy of the Justice Ministry's Immigration
Bureau that urges people to report illegal over-stayers anonymously on its Web site.
"This policy encourages racial discrimination and xenophobia," Diene said.
"It is basically just a measure to cast doubt on (foreigners) and such measures
should be banned completely."
Diene also met with various NGO groups and individuals who talked about their experiences
of discrimination in Japan, including Korean and Chinese residents, the indigenous
Ainu people and Okinawans.
At a hearing last Wednesday hosted by the International Movement Against All Forms
of Discrimination and Racism, a nongovernmental organization, Diene met with various
groups and individuals who discussed discrimination against foreign immigrants and
asylum seekers.
A member of the nongovernmental group Solidarity Network With Migrants Japan spoke
about what it denounced as discriminatory posters written by the police. She showed
a copy of a police warning which said "Beware of bad groups of foreigners."
The group also charged that xenophobic remarks are being made by public figures,
including Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, who has repeatedly emphasized that heinous
crimes are being committed by illegal foreigners.
"A lot of countries possess a negative image of Japan through negative and xenophobic
statements made by (Gov. Ishihara)," Diene said.
"In order to sweep away such images, (Japan) needs to show that it possesses
a strong political will" to eliminate discrimination and to provide an actual
implementation plan to ban racial discrimination, he added.
Diene said he will submit a final report on his visit to the Human Rights Commission
in March 2006.
The Japan Times: July 12, 2005
Anyway, it's been a momentous week. We finally got our voices heard, and by a UN
representative who listens and cares about the issues. Many thanks to Mr. Diene for
his assiduity and careful research, and to all those out there for being ready to
deliver the information at the right place, right time. Let's hope it gets us the
Holy Grail of a law against racial discrimination in Japan at long last.
Arudou Debito
Sapporo
July 12, 2005
http://www.debito.org
This report and all links and articles involved will be archived at
http://www.debito.org/rapporteur.html
ENDS
DOUDOU DIENE'S FINAL REPORT TO THE UNITED NATIONS
REGARDING RACIAL DISCRMINATION IN JAPAN
/////////////////////////////////////////////////
"RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IS PRACTICED UNDISTURBED IN JAPAN"
" IT CAN HARDLY BE ARGUED THAT JAPAN IS RESPECTING ITS INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS"
SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR DOUDOU DIENE REPORTS TO UNITED NATIONS
/////////////////////////////////////////////////
February 15, 2006
Doudou Diene, United Nations Special Rapporteur who visited Japan in
July 2005 to survey racial discrimination and xenophobia, has just
issued a report to the UN saying what we have been saying all along:
a) Racial discrimination occurs in many forms in Japan,
b) It is effectively unrestrained by the current legal and legislative system,
c) Japan needs a law against it, and should make passing one top priority.
The paper (at 23 pages, a surprisingly well-written quick read) is available in its entirety at
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/sessions/62/listdocs.htm#item6
Page down to "E/CN.4/2006/16/Add.2, Mission to Japan", and click on
"Advance Edited Version E" (link is the one letter E, so look
sharp.) Document is in Word format. Dated January 24, 2006.
Or you can see it in its entirety in html format on www.debito.org, by clicking here.
What follows are excerpts from the report--the summary and table of contents--with concluding comments from me following:
/////////////////////////////////////////////////
ADVANCE EDITED VERSION
Distr. GENERAL E/CN.4/2006/16/Add.2
24 January 2006 Original: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Sixty-second session
Item 6 of the provisional agenda
RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION
REPORT OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON CONTEMPORARY FORMS
OF RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND RELATED INTOLERANCE,
DOUDOU DIENE, ON HIS MISSION TO JAPAN
(3-11 July 2005)
/////////////////////////////////////////////////
Summary
The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, in pursuance of his
mandate, visited Japan from 3 to 11 July 2005. He assessed the
factors of discrimination that affect various minority groups,
including minorities resulting from the caste-like class system,
indigenous people, descendants of former Japanese colonies, foreigners
and migrant workers.
The Special Rapporteur concluded that there is racial discrimination
and xenophobia in Japan, and that it affects three circles of
discriminated groups: the national minorities - the Buraku
people, the Ainu and the people of Okinawa; people and descendants of
former Japanese colonies - Koreans and Chinese; foreigners and migrants
from other Asian countries and from the rest of the world.
The manifestations of such discrimination are first of all of a social
and economic nature. All surveys show that minorities live in a
situation of marginalization in their access to education, employment,
health, housing, etc. Secondly, the discrimination is of a
political nature: the national minorities are invisible in State
institutions. Finally, there is profound discrimination of a
cultural and historical nature, which affects principally the national
minorities and the descendents of former Japanese colonies. This
is mainly reflected in the poor recognition and transmission of the
history of those communities and in the perpetuation of the existing
discriminatory image of those groups.
Concerning the policies and measures adopted by public authorities, the
Special Rapporteur welcomes the adoption of a number of laws which
promote certain rights of certain minorities, but notes with concern
that the there is no national legislation that outlaws racial
discrimination and provides a judicial remedy for the victims.
Finally, the Special Rapporteur formulates a number of recommendations, including the following:
- The recognition of the existence of racial discrimination in Japan, and the expression of the political will to combat it;
- The adoption of a national law against discrimination;
- The
establishment of a national commission for equality and human rights,
whose mandate should bring together the most important fields of
contemporary discrimination: race, colour, gender, descent,
nationality, ethnic origin, disability, age, religion and sexual
orientation;
- Focusing on the process of rewriting and teaching of history.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////
CONTENTS
Introduction
I. GENERAL BACKGROUND
A. Ethnic and demographic situation
B. Historical and social context
C. The legal system
D. The administrative structure
E. Methodology
II. PUBLIC AUTHORITIES' POLITICAL AND LEGAL STRATEGY
A. The Buraku people
B. The Ainu
C. The people of Okinawa
D. Koreans and other foreigners
E. Anti-discrimination legislation
III. PRESENTATION OF THEIR SITUATION BY THE COMMUNITIES CONCERNED
A. The Buraku people
B. The Ainu
C. The people of Okinawa
D. The Koreans
E. Foreigners and migrant workers
F. Discriminatory messages on the Internet
IV. ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR
V. RECOMMENDATIONS
/////////////////////////////////////////////////
Read the rest of the report on debito.org by clicking here.
Read the Japanese translation by human rights group IMADR (pdf file) by clicking below:
http://www.imadr.org/japan/jc/icerd.project/DieneReport060307forWEB.pdf
(Anchor site: http://www.imadr.org/japan/)
COMMENTS: I might add
that I am truly impressed with the depth, breadth, and level of
commitment this report has to exposing and eliminating discrimination
in Japan. Not least because it says incontrovertibly and
officially what we have been saying all along: racial
discrimination is manifold here and the Japanese government is not
stopping it. Of special note is the heartrending section on the
Korean enclave in Utoro, Osaka (page 14, from paragraph 54), Section
III E on foreigners and migrant workers (page 16, paragraph 60
onwards), and the entire analysis and recommendations section (sections
IV and V), which really tells it like it is and how things oughta be.
(The Otaru Onsens Case, I am elated to say, even gets a whole paragraph! (63) To me, this is six years of work come to fruition...)
Required reading for anyone in Japan. So go to it, everyone! Bravo M. Diene!
Arudou Debito
Sapporo
UN'S DOUDOU DIENE TO REVISIT JAPAN MAY 13-18
May 12, 2006
M. Doudou Diene, Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human
Rights on contemporary forms of racism, visited Japan last July
2005. He reported that "Japan is still closed, spiritually and
intellectually centered" in a preliminary press conference. And
in an official report to the UN in January, he said, "Racial
discrimination is practiced undisturbed in Japan." "It can hardly
be argued that Japan is respecting its international obligations."
More on what happened during his visit, the report we submitted to him, and links to his report to the UN at
http://www.debito.org/rapporteur.html
Well, guess what. He's coming back! And this time to visit
Okinawa, Osaka, and Tokyo. His schedule courtesy of human rights
group IMADR-JC. Questions, contact Mr Morihara or Ms Hara at Tel:
(03)3568-7709, Fax: (03)3586-7448, email: imadrjc@imadr.org, website: http://www.imadr.org. Translation errors mine.)
///////////////////////////////////////////
SAT MAY 13: TOKYO PUBLIC MEETING regarding Diene's January UN Report.
2PM-5PM. Location: Tokyo Matsumoto Seiichiro Kinen Kaikan in Tokyo (Roppongi 3-5-11)
Contact IMADR at details above for registration.
SUN MAY 14 Diene to Okinawa.
MON MAY 15 Diene meets Okinawa Pref. Governor, visits Naha and Henoko.
TUES MAY 15 Diene meets Ginowan Mayor, visits Futenma area.
3PM to 4PM Press conference in Naha (contact IMADR)
4PM to 6PM Conference (not public)
6:30 to 9PM PUBLIC MEETING IN NAHA (contact IMADR)
WEDS MAY 16 Diene to Osaka
1PM to 3:30 Visits Ikuno-ku, Osaka (not public)
4:30 to 6:30 PUBLIC MEETING regarding Diene's January UN Report
Location: Osaka Jinken Center, near JR Ashiharabashi Loop Line Station
Register with Buraku Liberation League 06-6568-7337 (Ms Komori)
FAX 06-6568-0714, or email udhr@blhrri.org by May 16.
7PM to 9PM PUBLIC PARTY in Tennoji, cost 3000 yen, reservations same place.
THURS MAY 17 Diene to Tokyo
Visits major political parties (TBD, ask IMADR Tokyo above)
12PM to 1:30 Foreign Correspondents' Club Press Conference (members only)
2PM to 3PM PUBLIC GATHERING AT DIET LOWER HOUSE REGARDING DIENE REPORT
Location:
Shuugiin Daiichi Giin Kaikan (Be in lobby between 1:45 and 1:55)
4:30 to 5:30 Meeting with Fed. of Bar Associations (Nichibenren) (not public)
7PM to 9PM Conference at Osaka Keizai Houka Daigaku (not public)
///////////////////////////////////////////
That's all I know.
Hi all. Next week, I will be flying down to Tokyo to attend as
many meetings as possible with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on
Racism M. Doudou Diene.
I will probably have some time to hand him a packet of information, which is where you come in:
////////////////////////////////////////////////
1) IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO PASS ON TO M. DIENE?
2) WHAT I AM PASSING ON:
a) A FOLDER WITH REFERENTIAL MATERIALS
b) A VIDEO OF JAPANESE MEDIA ON ONSENS CASE AND FOREIGN CRIME
c) ANOTHER FOLDER WITH YOUR MESSAGES
////////////////////////////////////////////////
1) IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO PASS ON TO M. DIENE?
I'm sure you all out there have something you'd like to comment on,
something you think Japan should improve upon, or even just your
experience with a Japanese police Instant Checkpoint, an exclusionary
business, an apartment refusal, etc.
Well, write it up and send it to me. I'll print it up (like we
did last time), slot it in a folder, and pass it on. I've found
M. Diene to be very receptive to voices from the general public.
Suggestions:
a) Keep it under 1000 words. I'm sure he'll have enough to read on this trip.
b) Try to make the issues less interpersonal (not:
"some guy wouldn't sit next to me on a subway"), and more systematic
("a cop knocked me off my bike because I didn't stop fast enough, then
refused to apologize because he told me it was for prevention of
foreign crime", sort of thing).
c) Try to be as specific as you can with dates, times, and places. Don't sweat it too much, though.
d) Please submit with your name and contact details, in case the UN has to confirm details later.
If you want to submit, please do so by NOON on Tuesday, May 16, to debito@debito.org.
For clerical sanity, please put somewhere in the title/subject line "Diene submission". Thanks.
////////////////////////////////////////////////
2) WHAT I AM SUBMITTING:
a) A FOLDER WITH REFERENTIAL MATERIALS
b) A VIDEO OF JAPANESE MEDIA ON ONSENS CASE AND FOREIGN CRIME
c) A SECOND FOLDER WITH OUTSIDE REFERENCES
Here are excerpts of the summary writeups I will be including with the submissions, FYI:
FOR THE FIRST FOLDER:
====================================================
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST FOLDER IN BRIEF, WITH SUMMARY POINTS
Welcome back Special Rapporteur
Diene. We are very glad to have you here again. In some
ways, things have gotten worse since your visit last July 2005.
This handout will update you on some developments.
JAPAN'S JUDICIARY WILL NOT PROTECT AGAINST RACIAL DISCRIMINATION.
1) Japan Times article, Feb 7, 2006,
"Twisted legal logic deals rights blow to foreigners", regarding the
Steve McGowan Lawsuit. An African-American resident of Kyoto,
McGowan, barred entry from an eyeglass store because the owner
expressly "does not like blacks", loses his case on
technicalities. The judge, citing doubts about McGowan's Japanese
language ability, provides legal precedent for future decisions where
foreigners' testimony can be discounted or ignored because they are not
native speakers.
http://www.debito.org/mcgowanhanketsu.html#japantimesfeb7
JAPAN'S ADMINISTRATIVE BRANCHES BEND LAWS TO TARGET FOREIGNERS.
2) Japan Times article Oct 18, 2005,
"Ministry missive wrecks reception". Japan's Ministry of Health,
Labor and Welfare is caught issuing written directives to all hotels
demanding that all foreign guests display their passports for
photocopying and notification of local police. Even though recent
revisions to hotel laws limit this practice to foreign tourists.
Not only does this misinterpretation deputize hotel clerks with powers
legally reserved only for police, it enables clerks to refuse
foreigners lodging, eroding the only law in Japan which once clearly
protected even foreigners against refusals of accommodation (since
Japan has essentially no protection against refusals of apartments and
living space). All in the name of, quote, "control of infectious
diseases and terrorism" (which of course only foreigners do).
Enclosed is a copy of the original MHLW directive obtained from a hotel.
http://www.debito.org/japantimes101805.html
JAPAN'S ANTI-TERRORIST POLICY PROPOSALS INCREASE POLICING POWERS PARTICULARLY OF FOREIGNERS.
3) Japan Times article Nov 22 and 29,
2006, "The 'IC you' card". Japan's "Action Plan for Pre-Empting
Terrorism" will be tracking only all foreigners (reinstating
once-abolished fingerprinting requirements), not Japanese, at
"data-swiping stations" nationwide. Discusses the ideology behind
the policy and the potential for abuse. Readers' reactions in a
follow-up article enclosed.
http://www.debito.org/japantimes112205.html
4) Japan Times article May 24, 2005,
"Here comes the fear". Discusses in more detail the
abovementioned "Action Plan" approved by the Diet. Enclosed is
Mainichi Shinbun article Feb 8, 2006, demonstrating that the Japan
Times article's dire predictions about the future under the policy are
indeed coming true.
http://www.debito.org/japantimes052405.html
LEGISLATIVE MOVES TO PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS STYMIED
5) Japan Times article May 2, 2006,
"How to kill a bill". Describes the legislative process behind
Japan's historic first law outlawing racial discrimination--a local
ordinance in rural Tottori Prefecture. Passed by the Tottori
Prefectural Assembly in Oct 2005, the ordinance was by March 2006
unpassed by the same assembly due to an alarmism that gripped the
media. This echoes the same alarmism found in Japan's Diet--the
fear of giving foreigners, particularly North Koreans, any power over
Japanese--which caused the death of two other human rights bills in
2003 and 2005.
http://www.debito.org/japantimes050206.html
HUMAN RIGHTS JUDICIAL ACTIVISM IN JAPAN
6) Japan Times article Jan 3, 2006,
"Lawsuit-free land a myth", debunking the claim which critics use
against foreign courtroom activists that "Japanese do not sue", and
describing what lawsuits have done to further human rights in
Japan. This article, however, came out before the McGowan Lawsuit
(article 1 above) defeat.
http://www.debito.org/japantimes010306.html
ASSIMILATION IN JAPAN: ENCOURAGEMENTS AND BARRIERS
7) Japan Times article Jan 24, 2006,
"Taking the 'gai' out of 'gaijin'", which appraises the inevitability
of immigration to Japan (even Tokyo Gov. Ishihara recognizes a
foreigner-friendly policy is necessary), and what measures Japan must
take to assimilate them properly into society.
http://www.debito.org/japantimes012406.html
8) Japan Focus article Jan 12, 2006,
"The Coming Internationalization: Can Japan assimilate its
immigrants?" This academic paper gives more detail and statistics
on the points mentioned in article 7 above.
http://www.debito.org/japanfocus011206.html
9) "Academic Apartheid Update Oct
2005", an overview of the evolution of Japan's labor market, where the
"contract workforce ghetto" that foreign workers have been assigned to
for generations has now been implemented for Japanese as well.
According to the National Union of General Workers, term-limited
contract work permeates the workforce, where 20% of all Japanese men,
50% of all Japanese women, and 90% of all foreign workers are in this
insecure job status. How can immigrants establish stronger roots
and assimilate without a steady and stable job?
http://www.debito.org/acadapartupdateoct05.html
UPDATES ON "JAPANESE ONLY" POLICIES NATIONWIDE
10) "Japanese only" plane
tickets: Evidence demonstrating that H.I.S. Travel Agency, one of
Japan's largest, has had two different pricing structures, charging
foreigners substantially more than Japanese customers for the same
ticket, and reserving other tickets for Japanese nationals only.
http://www.debito.org/HISpricing.html
11) Map of location of "Japanese
Only" signs nationwide (with two more new signs sent the author in
April and May 2006, from Tokyo Ikebukuro and Hiroshima)
http://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html
12) Powerpoint presentation,
"JAPANESE ONLY, Racial Discrimination in Japan", delivered in March
2006 at several educational institutions in the United States,
including University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, Columbia
University School of Law, New York University School of Law, and
Amherst College. All 50 slides of the presentation are included.
http://www.debito.org/arudounewpresentation.ppt
====================================================
FOR THE VIDEO:
====================================================
OTARU ONSENS TAPE (1999-2003) SHOWING TELEVISION BROADCASTS DEPICTING ISSUES OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN THE JAPANESE MEDIA
1) TV ASAHI NEWS STATION on ANA BORTZ DECISION (Nationally broadcast October 12, 1999) (10 minutes). Describes
the first court decision (Shizuoka District Court) regarding racial
discrimination in Japan, citing the UN CERD Treaty, and the fact that
Japan has no law against racial discrimination. Some additional
interviews with Nikkei Brazilian residents of Shizuoka Prefecture,
their treatment, and "Japanese Only" signs.
2) HBC TV award-winning documentary on OTARU ONSENS (PUBLIC BATHHOUSE CASE (Locally broadcast March 27, 2001) (1 hour 2 minutes). Gives
a thorough rundown of the issue and expresses it from a more "Japanese
point of view" (i.e. the issue is portrayed more in terms of cultural
differences, not racism). It also has extensive quotes from
Japanese saying what they don't like about foreigners (they stink, they
might be diseased, they don't follow the rules, they look scary etc.).
3) TV ASAHI tabloid show "KOKO GA HEN DA YO NIHONJIN", on exclusionism in Wakkanai, Monbetsu, and Otaru (Nationally broadcast Feb 28, 2001) (16 minutes). This
is a revolutionary show with foreign panelists speaking Japanese to
Japanese TV personalities regarding various issues of the day.
Very critical at times of Japan, this show became famous for usually
generating more heat than light, and for baiting foreigners with cries
of "Go home if you don't like it here!" very often. This episode
offers Otaru Onsens Lawsuit Plaintiffs Karthaus, Sutherland, and Arudou
for dissection, by foreigners who claim that the lawsuit is basically
Americans (even though Karthaus is German and Arudou Japanese) being
legalistic, hypocritical, and profit-seeking. According to media
sources, foreign panelists were especially chosen if they were
antipathetic towards the lawsuit, as it would make for better
television. The Japanese panelists, however, were in fact very
supportive. Bonus footage of a Russian and an African panelist
flying up to Wakkanai, Otaru, and Monbetsu, three Hokkaido cities with
"Japanese Only" signs for years (Wakkanai and Monbetsu still to this
day have them), and getting refused entry at several establishments for
being foreign.
4) HBC NEWS (Locally broadcast March 27, 2001) on the OTARU ONSENS LAWSUIT FIRST HEARING (3 minutes). This
gives a rundown of the arguments used by all sides to the lawsuit, with
the Defendant Otaru City claiming in court that they are not bound by
the ICERD because they are a local government, and the Defendant
Yunohana Onsen claiming that they are the victims in this case.
5) VARIOUS NEWS AGENCIES (Dosanko Wide, Hokkaido News, STV, and HBC) with various angles on OTARU ONSENS LAWSUIT FILING (Locally broadcast February 1, 2001) (15 minutes total).
NB: The HBC segment contains the only public interview given by
Defendant Yunohana Onsen owner, a Mr Hashimoto, explaining the deeds
that foreigners have done to damage his premises. The final
interview was given live (the only way Hashimoto would agree to be
interviewed, according to media sources, so that his comments would not
be edited), where he states that he has never met the Plaintiffs (of
course; he always refused to do so). An interesting viewpoint of
a person who runs Yunohana's Onsen chain (now expanded to three
outlets), which to this day refuses entry to any foreigner who does not
"speak Japanese".
6) UHB SUPER NEWS Beginning of the new year special on THE YEAR 2001 (Locally broadcast January 3, 2002) (15 minutes).
Discourse on the nature of internationalization in Japan. Also
brings in the spectre of foreign crime and terrorism, first brought up
from April 2000 with the "Ishihara Sangokujin Speech", and later used
to justify further exclusionism towards foreigners. Fear of
foreigners has been fanned by the government and the media for years
now, and the final show is a good example of it.
7) NHK CLOSE UP GENDAI on FOREIGN CRIME (Nationally broadcast November 7, 2003) (26 minutes). Three
years after Ishihara's public declaration against foreigners, it is
clear how foreign residents will now be portrayed: Foreigners and
the crimes they bring are now a subject of fear, and this show offers a
guidebook of "foreign crime methods" with no comparison whatsoever to
statistics of crimes by Japanese (except those connected again with
foreigners). A Public Service Announcement posing as a news
special.
(NB to readers: If you would like a copy of this video at nominal cost, please let me know after May 21, 2006.)
====================================================
Thanks for your help, everyone!
Arudou Debito in Sapporo, Japan
debito@debito.org
www.debito.org
May 12, 2006
SECOND FOLDER OF ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY, MAY 2006:
ISSUES FOR SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR DIENE TO BE AWARE OF
Provided by cyberspace mailing lists, collated by ARUDOU Debito, Sapporo, Japan (debito@debito.org, www.debito.org)
EXCERPT
LIST AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS
1) Photos of newfound "Japanese Only" signs in Okinawa,
with brief commentary from the sender. Point: Evidence that
without racial discrimination laws in Japan, the problem continues to
spread.
2) "An Introduction to Discrimination Concerning Children in Japan" by Mark Smith of the Children's Rights Network.
An overview of the problems caused by Japan's weak laws regarding
parents' rights of access to and support of children in the event of
divorce. Although these problems affect divorcees in Japan
regardless of nationality, international divorces are particularly
problematic because even in court, the foreign parent essentially has
few to no rights vis-à-vis access and custody of children (which
has made Japan a haven for international kidnapping and
intercontinental child abductions). Supplementary
documentation, a) "What Child Custody and Visitation in Japan Show us
about the Japanese Court System" by Colin P.A. Jones of Doshisha
University, and b) "A Critique of Japan's Second Periodic Report on the
CRC by Japan" by a coalition of NGOs, is also included.
3) Case study on the emergent power of the Japanese Police Forces under
a new "Conspiracy Law". Documents are arranged to lead you
through the issue: A) "Japan Times (2005) on Detentions and
Extralegal Powers..." describes how much power Japan's law enforcement
has over criminal investigations and suspects (and how, with the
police's tendencies towards racial profiling, this will lead to further
foreigner targeting and scapegoating). B) Asia Times, May 12,
2006, "The return of 'thought crimes' in Japan" describes what's wrong
with the "Conspiracy Law" currently being debated by the Diet.
Then c) four Japan Times articles ("Terrorist kept calling Japan", "NPA
report...", "I want to to clear my name...", "Alleged al-Qaeda link
seeks vindication") depicting the Himu Case, of a Bangladeshi falsely
accused in 2004 of having terrorist links. Point: Even
before any Conspiracy Law, the Japanese police already have used their
extensive investigative and media powers to target and defame
foreigners with very tenuous connections to the accused, destroying
lives and livelihoods, offering no retraction or apology to set the
record straight or rehabilitate the victim if mistakes are made.
Now, the likely passage of the Conspiracy Law , in this age of fears of
terrorism (with "terrorism" explicitly seen as an overseas phenomenon
by the National Police Agency; see Japan Times article May 24, 2005, "Here Comes the Fear",
contained in Folder One), will grant powers to target foreigners even
more. Simply being a friend or neighbor, or even by chance having
the same nationality of a foreign suspect, will be enough to warrant
arrest on charges of possible "conspiracy", causing grueling detentions
and destroyed reputations.
4) "From Harassment to Victory?", by Kevin Dobbs, a case study of a
labor dispute involving foreign employees (in this case, language
teachers), who for generations in Japan have been subject to inferior
job conditions and unstable term-limited contract labor. This
case involves a years-long struggle between Dobbs and his Chinese wife,
and their employer, Tochigi Prefecture's International University of
Health and Welfare. This story is atypical only in the fact that
taking the issue before the government-sponsored Labor Board actually
resulted in a victory for the foreign worker.
5) Email from Steve van Dresser regarding Japan's "guarantor" system,
and how it further disenfranchises foreigners from the rental apartment
market.
6) Email testimonies from Anthony Keyes and Mark Campbell, with more on
Japanese police and their treatment of foreigners: Frequent stops
and seizures (particularly when riding bicycles), ignoring laws that do
not require foreigners to carry passports everywhere etc.. These
stories, unfortunately, are Legion, and I, as one point man for reports
regarding rights violations in Japan, receive them several times
monthly (in recent months, weekly) as crackdowns intensify. ENDS
FOLLOW-UP REPORT ON DIENE'S TOKYO AND OSAKA VISITS, MAY 17 AND 18, 2006
by Arudou Debito
///////////////////////////////////////////////
1) MEETING WITH UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR DIENE IN OSAKA AND TOKYO
2) LINKS TO RELATED ARTICLES
3) ATTENDING UN SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN PRESS CONFERENCE
///////////////////////////////////////////////
May 23, 2006
1) MEETING WITH UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR DIENE, OSAKA AND TOKYO
I met M. Doudou Diene for the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth times
over two days (May 17 and 18) in Osaka and Tokyo respectively. In
Osaka, he attended a hearing of human rights groups and a dinner.
In Tokyo, he gave a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents'
Club of Japan (FCCJ), and attended a hearing for Dietmembers in an
Upper House conference room (BLL rep Matsuoka Tohru and Shamintou Party
Leader Fukushima Mizuho attended, while several other Dietmember
offices sent their meishi with regrets; no contact whatsoever, sadly,
from Tsurunen Marutei's office). There were also several other
meetings I could not attend in his very busy six-day schedule,
available at http://www.debito.org/rapporteur.html#May2006
M. Diene listened attentively to all speakers, then comments about his
role in the fight against racial discrimination worldwide. As
Special Rapporteur, although he does represent the UN in name and
ideal, Diene does not receive a salary, from the UN or any interest
group. He thus is not beholden to anyone and has the freedom to
pick his sites of investigation. His procedure is to talk to both
the members of civil society and the government (he formally requests
to speak to the highest echelons of any local and national government;
they can and do refuse), then give his recommendations based upon his
findings. His reports to the UN, by the way, do not focus
exclusively on Japan; his backlog of articles and movements elsewhere
may be found on the United Nations website by typing "Special
Rapporteur Doudou Diene" on their search engine, at
http://www.un.org/search/
I did not audio record Diene's speeches, but to paraphrase his points from memory:
-------------------------------------------------
1) Racism,
xenophobia, and related intolerance is not something you deal with just
once--it is something you keep combatting, as it is a mutating
phenomenon. Which is one reason he returned to Japan this time on
the invitation of rights group IMADR (www.imadr.org), to follow up on
his July 2005 initial visit and January 2006 report.
2) Racism etc.
is on the increase worldwide. More governments are using the new
mutation of intolerance--i.e. the fear of terrorism--as a means of
justifying increased discrimination and decreased civil liberties for
peoples within their borders. Meanwhile, more politicians are
bringing xenophobia out of the political fringes and using them for
populist purposes during election campaigns. Even prominent
intellectuals are using increasingly sophisticated arguments to justify
what amounts to racist practices and increased intolerance (he cited
Samuel Huntington's book "Who Are We?", an extension of
Huntington's earlier thesis that cultures inevitably clash, as an
intellectual's view of foreigners threatening an "American Creed').
3) To combat
racism, one needs the rule of law and policy measures at the highest
levels of government to expose and deal with it (which is where Japan
is particularly culpable, as it lacks a law forbidding racial
discrimination). There must be a means to address, redress, and
punish.
4) However,
racism is merely the tip of the iceberg--one must also have an
intellectual and ethical strategy. The expression of underlying
attitudes and values in a society is what encourages negative reactions
towards peoples on a grand scale. Education is essential to
change those attitudes, along with a complete rewrite of history to
remove those bones of contention--problematic interpretations of the
past along nationalistic lines. He proposes that UNESCO convene
an assembly of the best historians from all countries within a region,
and write an agreed-upon historical account to resolve future disputes
and ameliorate potential frictions between countries and peoples.
(UNESCO, he notes, has already done this on the genesis of Africa,
Central America, and Central Asia.) Unless you deal with the
deeper root causes of intolerance, there is little hope for a lasting
resolution of it, he concludes.
5) Until then,
Diene intends to file his reports with the UN in the considerations of
the promises Japan has made to the international community, gauging how
closely Japan is following the international instruments it has signed.
6) Now that Japan has been elected to the newly-formed UN Human Rights Council, with 46 other member states (see Kyodo brief at http://www.crisscross.com/jp/news/372161), Diene welcomes Japan's increased responsibility and international scrutiny of its own internal human rights issues.
(More on this new body at:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/ga10449.doc.htm
http://www.un.org/ga/60/elect/hrc/ )
-------------------------------------
COMMENT FROM DEBITO:
Frankly, I found M. Diene's breadth, depth, and accomplishment of
thought--on both the concept of discrimination and the strategy for
securing human rights--to be breathtakingly inspiring. Now here
is a man I am happy to have in a position of spokesman for our cause,
not only because he knows what he's talking about, but also because he
actually *CARES* about the outcome for people around the world (and
must be tirelessly processing an enormous amount of information
during his travels!). He shows a tenacity of belief and action
that I can only hope to emulate somehow. Although I don't share
(yet) his faith that Japan will actually feel any more compunction to
create an anti-discrimination law by mere dint of being on the Human
Rights Council, I am willing to take a wait-and-see attitude, and gear
up to make the case later before the Council myself that Japan's
legislative, administrative, and judicial branches have little to no
intention to follow the treaties it signs.
To that end, in addition to the folder and video of referential materials I gave him
(see http://www.debito.org/rapporteur.html#may2006 for contents),
I also included a second folder with reports regarding, inter alia,
Japan's awful record vis-a-vis international divorce (and its status as
extralegal haven for child abductions, see http://www.crnjapan.com),
the potential further targeting of foreigners in specific under the
proposed Conspiracy Law ("Kyoubozai Houan", citing the al-Qaeda witch
hunt of 2004 and the Himu Case, see http://www.debito.org/japantimes102305detentions.html
),and issues involving foreign educators and the parochial house
renting "guarantor system". Let's hope it all means something in
the end.
(For those who wish to contact M. Diene with a concern (he said several
times that he is emailable), his email address care of the UN is sr-racism@ohchr.org. Address it specifically to Doudou Diene. Mention my name if you want.)
///////////////////////////////////////////////
2) RELATED ARTICLES COVERING DIENE'S VISIT
Eric Johnston also attended the May 17 Osaka Meeting (although the
Japan Times was sadly absent from the Tokyo venues). This is what
how he portrayed the event:
--------------------------------------
ANTIDISCRIMINATION LAW NEEDED
Racism rapporteur repeats criticism
By ERIC JOHNSTON, Staff writer
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060518a6.html
The Japan Times: Thursday, May 18, 2006
OSAKA -- The U.N.
rapporteur on racism repeated Wednesday his strong criticism of the
Japanese government's attitude toward combating the problem, saying the
country needs an antidiscrimination law.
"Japanese human
rights groups and others, in linkage with the international community,
can move toward creating an antidiscrimination law which will hopefully
lead to addressing the deeper causes of racism and xenophobia," said
Doudou Diene, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of
Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.
Meeting in the
afternoon with nearly three dozen human rights representatives,
including foreigners' rights activists, Diene heard about the
discrimination faced by the Korean, Okinawan, and Japanese-Brazilian
communities, as well as descendants of the former "buraku" outcast
class, and about specific incidents of government and corporate
discrimination against foreigners.
In a scathing report released in January, Diene said racism in Japan is deep and profound.
At Wednesday's
meeting, he repeated the call in his report for the government to
protect its ethnic and cultural minorities through legislation
outlawing racism.
Diene's report
pointed out that Japan is party to the U.N. Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, but has not yet
ratified a U.N. convention to protect migrant workers.
The January report
came nearly six months after Diene, at the invitation the International
Movement Against all Forms of Discrimination and Racism Japan
Committee, traveled around the country meeting with representatives of
the Ainu, "buraku" descendants, and Korean communities as well as
foreign migrant workers.
On this current
unofficial visit, also arranged by IMADR, Diene came to Okinawa on
Saturday and met local government officials and residents opposed to
the U.S. bases.
After speaking
Monday to people living near U.S. Kadena Air Base who have filed a
lawsuit about the noise near, Diene told reporters he heard the noise
from F-15s taking off from Kadena and better understood the situation
after talking to them.
Diene also met
people living beside the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and
later toured the waters off the marines' Camp Schwab near Nago, where a
replacement facility will be built.
Diene was to have meetings with Foreign Ministry officials and human rights lawyers in Tokyo on Thursday.
The Diene report and his visits -- last July and this week -- have drawn a mixed reaction here.
Human rights
activists have welcomed it for detailing the economic, social and
political discrimination that various ethnic and cultural minorities
face and for urging the government to adopt national antidiscrimination
legislation.
Critics, however, have said the report is flawed because Diene is in Japan at the behest of a group with a political agenda.
They have charged
that the Japan portrayed in his report reflects only the views of IMADR
and its allies, and the paper is not an objective analysis of the
situation for minority groups. As of this week, the Diene report and
his recommendations have been endorsed by 77 groups in Japan, including
human rights organizations, religious groups and unions.
"My report does
reflect certain limitations. I am only in a given country for about 10
days, and I have not been able to meet everybody I would have liked to
meet," Diene said.
-------------------------------------
JAPAN TIMES ARTICLE ENDS
Kyodo's take in English here:
Voice of America's take, with a photo of Diene (and, ahem, yours truly):
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-05-18-voa6.cfm
The Okinawa Times and Ryukyu Shinbun (Japanese), with headlines reading
"The concentration of US bases, noise, and environmental destruction is
discrimination towards Okinawa":
(Finally, someone goes down there to report on the
situation! Even former President Bill Clinton irresponsibly
refused to accept former Okinawa Governor Ota's invitation to visit in
the late 1990's.)
Final word on Diene for the moment:
His trips have been an enormous boost for the human rights groups in
Japan, and his statements have legitimized for the whole world to see
the issues that Japan's emerging civil society have been taking up for
years. The government (there was AFAIK no Diene meeting with PM
Koizumi or with Tokyo Gov. Ishihara. Again) and the Japanese
media again generally turned a blind eye. But I have a feeling
that with M. Diene, there will be more follow-ups. I hope to see
him again, next time in Geneva, very soon.
///////////////////////////////////////////////
3) UN SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN PRESS CONFERENCE
Another highlight of this trip was meeting up with a reporter from the
Italian press at the FCCJ, who had actually read my book JAPANESE ONLY
(I want to hug anyone who does!), and who invited me to join him as a
guest at the Japan Press Club for Kofi Annan's hourlong press
conference on May 18.
More on Annan's trip to Japan and South Korea at:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060513b7.html
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060518a5.html
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060519a8.html
Attended by all the major press, Annan gave a masterful presentation
(would not expect anything less of a world leader of his calibre) with
the appropriate gravitas, wit, and sincerity. He was excellent at
avoiding pointing fingers at specific countries, explaining earnestly
why he would not broach certain topics, and giving you the feeling that
he was not dodging questions while necessarily doing so. I was
aglow at how well he did it. Learned a lot.
Three examples (paraphrased from memory, not quotes; all rendering errors mine):
1) How to dodge a question effectively:
When asked about what was talked about with that day's meeting with the Emperor, Annan said:
"If I were to disclose what is talked about every time I meet a monarch
or emperor, it will get around. And the next time we meet, we
will only talk about the weather or their grandchildren. I do not
want this to happen. So I don't want to go into details on
this. I will say, however, that we did talk about important world
issues of the day and that we had a very constructive conversation."
2) How to rebuke criticism:
When asked about the illegality of the Iraq war and the irrelevance of
the UN regarding unilateral action by "coalitions of the willing" led
by the US:
"People are tending to see the UN as irrelevant. However, you
must realize that it is not just something out in space like a
satellite. The UN is made up of those countries, it IS those
countries, even those critical of the UN, and they make the UN what
they put into it. We are not a pacifist organization--we
understand the use of force at the appropriate, agreed-upon juncture,
and have used it from time to time as the record shows. We do not
see coalitional action like this as constructive. The UN is doing
the best job it can, but for it to work people have to be willing to
work within it. Going outside of it when you do not get your way
is not in my view the best path." [or something to that
effect--grand paraphrasing here]
3) Asking the question:
You know I was tempted to raise my hand--it's not every day you could
ask a question to the leader of the United Nations! However, only
authorized journalists are allowed to raise their hand at these
functions. Fortunately, my reporter friend did it for me:
Question: "Japan yesterday passed a law reinstating fingerprinting for foreigners (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060518a2.html).
Special Rapporteur Doudou Diene is also here investigating the
situation of racism and xenophobia within Japan. Do you have any
comment concerning Japan's election to the Human Rights Council and its
domestic situation vis-a-vis xenophobia?"
Annan's answer: "I was unaware that Japan had passed this
law. I am aware that Diene is here but we have not met to discuss
his trip or findings. I am distressed that many countries
worldwide are increasingly legislating xenophobic tendencies in the
name of fighting terrorism, and I would hope that people will
understand that legislating away civil liberties for peoples within its
borders is not the proper path to take."
Best we could have hoped for in this situation. A seed is planted.
Arudou Debito in Sapporo
debito@debito.org
www.debito.org
May 23, 2006
REPORT ENDS
POSTSCRIPT: Turns out the above press conference was recorded and rendered on the UN website. See entire text at
"Tokyo, Japan, 18 May 2006 - Secretary-General's Press Conference at the National Press Club"
http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp?nid=876
Guess my memory wasn't all that bad after all...
ANOTHER TAKE ON THE UN RAPPORTEUR DIENE TRIP
(sent out May 27, 2006)
Last update, I gave a synopsis of Doudou Diene's trip last week to Tokyo, Osaka, and Okinawa, sponsored by IMADR.
I received a response from Trevor Bekolay, student at Kokugakuin
University and University of Manitoba, who offered his take on the trip
(particularly Diene's May 13, 2006 Tokyo meeting, which I was unable to
attend). Forwarding with permission:
------------------------------------------------------
Just to add to your email about meeting with UN Special Rapporteur
Diene, I as well had the opportunity to meet him at the public meeting
on May 13th at IMADR's building. The meeting consisted of but 20
people (I was a bit surprised, myself). Most of the points that he
made you already included in your email, so if I repeat some things, I
apologize....
The three-hour meeting included statements from IMADR, the NGO
representative, Dr. Diene himself, then about half of the time was
allotted to questions from those who attended. Here are the notes I
made on what I heard:
"Dr. Diene received a fair amount of negative media coverage after the
initial UN report due to the possibility of omissions which are
believed to be added to Diene's report. IMADR attempted to address
these problems in their open letter to Dr. Diene, but the purpose of
the meeting really, was for Diene to receive feedback on the report,
especially of issues that were omitted in the original report. He
stressed that one does not have to be in a group, any individual can
inform the Special Rapporteur of individual cases of racism and
discrimination which will immediately be acted upon. Basically, the
UN is starting to police Japan's government more closely, to determine
if they should remain in Human Rights groups in the UN.
"The report's goal is to be the first step in starting social change,
not just a report on the current situation. The responsibility of
activist groups like IMADR is to inform Diene of new developments.
Give as much information as possible so he can give a good report to
the UN. Consider how the report can be used as part of the fight
against racism in Japan.
"Question Period: Mainly specific issues, such as pension issues for
disabled Zainichi Koreans. However, a representative for the Civil
Liberties Union seemed to be there to defend the Japanese right to be
racist. He mentioned the issue of freedom of expression vs. racial
discrimination. He claimed that freedom of expression isn't well
protected in Japan, so only public servants are punished for making
racist remarks in public forums. He gave two examples of problems
with freedom of expression: one in which public servants who were
distributing political leaflets were arrested, and one in which
environmentalists were arrested by SD forces while distributing
political leaflets."...
------------------------------------------------------
ENDS
The Special Rapporteur welcomes information from people with knowledge on the ground.
E-mail Doudou Diene at sr-racism@ohchr.org
JAPAN TIMES COLUMN ON DIENE'S MAY 2006 VISIT
JUNE 27, 2006, BY ARUDOU DEBITO
AVAILABLE HERE
Portions Copyright 2005-2006, Arudou Debito, Sapporo, Japan
