2017年11月1日
国際連合経済社会理事会特別協議資格NGO
言論･表現の自由を守る会
日本政府は世界人権宣言７０周年を目前に、
ただちに全個人通報制度批准を閣議決定し、
法の支配を実現しなければならない。
To:Governmental and NGO Representative sattending the 2nd UPR of Japan:
Japanese Association for the Right to Freedomof Speech （JRFS）
NGO in Special Consultative Status withthe ECOSOC
The JapaneseAssociation for the Right to Freedom of Speech wishes to propose therecommendations setout below in the new order of priority to be issued to theGovernment of Japan:
Following theannouncement on September 11, 2012 of the alarming results of the health surveyon children conducted by Fukushima Prefecture Authorities, our Associationdecided that we should give top priority to the urgent collective evacuation ofthe children of Fukushima in our proposal for HRC Recommendation to theJapanese Government. We have subsequentlypresented our revised proposal to the Ambassadors to Japan of the troika countriesas well as to the Ambassador of France to Japan who is also in charge of humanrights affairs for the European Union.
Shortly beforethe current session of the UPR, on September 11, 2012, 33 years after the ratificationof the ICESCR, the Japanese Government finally ratified the paragraphs 2-B andC of Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic ,Social and CulturalRights, by withdrawing its reservation for the provision sconcerning free higher education. We therefore did not include theratification of the Article concerned in our proposal of August 30.
１．To guaranteethe right to seek refuge of children of Fukushima and drastically improve
２．To immediatelyratify the individual communication system to establish the separation ofpowers, paving the way to the application of the Universal Declaration of HumanRights and International Human Rights Covenants and turning the country into astate ruled by law, respectful of universal fundamental human rights;
３． To repealPublic Office Election Law provisions concerning freedom of expression（ban on distribution of flyers anddoor-to-door visits） and the StatePersonnel Law （Article 102） to establish political rights,foundation of any democratic state.
JapaneseAssociation for the Right to Freedom of Speech represents citizens of all ageswho are victims of human right abuses and are fight in gin court as well astheir supporters and other human rights defenders. They include victims of repression forhaving distributed political flyers, as well as teachers who were punished forno taccepting emperor-glorifying Hinomaru flag and Kimigayo song as national emblems. In November 2007, our Associationjoined the Japanese Workers’ Committee for Human Rights and in March 2008submitted its first report to the UNHRC. In April 2012, our members, plaintiffs of the Hinomaruand Kimigayo cases submitted a counter-report jointly with the Japanese Workers’Committee for Human Rights.
1．To guarantee the right to seek refugeof children of Fukushima and drastically improve their health management
In the contextof growing poverty among people with children, the Prime Minister’s CabinetOffice in June 2012 announced that the number of suicide esamong students andschool children exceeded 1,000 for the first time since the survey began in1978, reaching 1,029. The total number of suicides sharply increased in 1998 toexceed30,000. For 14consecutive years since then, more than 30,000 people commit suicide every yearin Japan.
Fukushimaprefecture is located in one of the poorest regions and most of the familieswith children are not able to afford adequate health management much needed tocope with the effects of radiation contamination. They also need money to evacuate the contaminatedarea and start a new life in a safer place. Collective evacuation financed by public authoritiesshould be ensured for the people affected by earthquake and nuclear power plantaccident.
2． For Immediate Ratification of theFirst Optional Protocol to the ICCPR （individual communications）
After the lastUPR, the current ruling party won the general election with the promise that itwould establish the individual communication system. However , the successive JusticeMinisters have failed to keep that promise. On the contrary, especially after the March11 GreatEarthquake, the parliamentary secretary and a high official in charge of humanrights and humanitarian question in Ministry of Foreign Affairs who were activefor promoting human rights have been removed from their posts and replaced withothers who claim that “some groups are opposed to the ratification”. The problem is not merely the lack ofpolitical will.
It is essentialto understand that , more than half a century after the Universal Declarationof Human Rights, the Japanese Government does not only neglect theimplementation of the UNHRC recommendations but is acting against theprinciples of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In fact, itargued back against the UNHRC’ srecommendations on its Second Periodic Reportto avoid the implementation of these recommendations. In the court trials on nuclear powerplants, the Government did not disclose all information which fact led to theproliferation of nuclear plants all over Japan. In addition, the Government has neglected measuresto prevent accident and caused the explosion of reactors at Fukushima Plant. The people of Fukushima who suffered heavydamages from the earthquake and tsunami have been driven away from their homedue to radiations and are now left without any adequate economic compensation. Because of lack of information thatshould have been provided quickly after the accident, children who are very vulnerableto radioactivity have been exposed and are now denied their rights to healthmanagement and to seek refuge for safety. Continued human rights violations perpetrated onthe people of Fukushima and the workers of nuclear power plant constitute a majorhumanitarian problem.
The ForeignMinistry in July this year organized the “World Ministerial Conference onDisaster Reduction in Tohoku”, but most of the officers in charge of the event,do not know about the human rights treaties or UNHRC recommendations. Even Fukushima prefecture governor andmayors of cities and towns in the prefecture do not know about the treaties andrecommendations that serve as international legalist andards.
In addition,the Japanese Government authorized the re-start of Ohi nuclear power plantwhose safety has yet to be confirmed. This poses a threat to the entire internationalcommunity and testifies to the hostile attitude of Japanese Government againstthe UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and InternationalHuman Rights Covenants.
3．For Repealing the Public OfficeElection Law and the State Personnel Law （Article 102）
The HumanRights Committee in 2008recommended to the Japanese government the abrogationof these two laws. Their repeal isessential for establishing political rights of the Japanese people. A just andfair election of members of parliament who make laws is the surest way torealize the aspiration of all those who are taking up human rights challenges. And it is essential for peace in Asiaand the world to achieve a major change in the governmental policy on humanrights and turn Japan, an aggressor country in the WWII, into a countryrespectful of human rights.
In Japan, theForeign Ministry, the judiciary and the prosecution continue to totally ignorethe Human Rights Committees 2008 recommendation （paragraph 26）.
Mr. Horikoshi,charged of violation of the Public Personnel Law, was judged not guilty by theHigh Court, but the Court did not give any decision about the ICCPR violation. The presiding judge did not accept totake 22videos secretly taken by police agents as material evidence for thecrime committed by the police. Tokyo High Public Prosecutor Haruo Kazama appealed to the Supreme Courtand was later promoted to Supreme Public Prosecutor General.
In 2011, Mr.Katsuhisa Fujita, teacher at Itabashi Tokyo Metropolitan High School was fined200,000 yen （1800dollars） by the Supreme Court for havingdisobeyed the education board order to sing “Kimigayo” song at schoolceremonies. Over 700 publicschool teachers who refused to stand up and sing “Kimigayo” and sufferedprejudicial treatment took their cases to court. In 10 out of 21 such cases ,teachers lost the legalbattle in Supreme Court in total disregard of the ICCPR. The Court decisions are used to impose“Hinomaru” flag and “Kimigayo” song on school children.
On the pretextof these unfair Supreme Court decisions, the Ministry of Education allows OsakaCity Mayor to enact aby law banning any political activity of teachers and municipalpersonnel , through amendment of the Local Public personnel law by invokingArticle 102 of the State Personnel Law.
As it isescalating its action against freedom of speech and thought, the Government inthe parliament in session at this moment is attempting to pass a law to reducethe proportional representation seats by 80 to enable it to obtain majority inthe parliament and scrap Article 9 of the Constitution. If this happens, itwould give a decisive blow to democracy in our country. This poses also a threat against theinternational community.