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Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination started consideration of the initial and second periodic reports of Japan
08 March 2001
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CERD
58th session
8 March 2001
Afternoon
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon started its consideration of the initial and second periodic reports of Japan on how that country is implementing the guarantees contained within the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
A Government delegation from Japan told Committee Experts that with national borders substantially lowered in international society under the rapidly globalizing economy, the greatly increased migration of people had led to new modes of racial discrimination. These had become serious social problems in many countries in a variety of forms. Vigilance was necessary to suppress and eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.
Koichi Haraguchi, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that in addition to the discrimination against Utari, Korean residents and others, new problems had surfaced in Japan because of the influx of a large number of foreign workers - mainly from Asian countries - over the past 10 years. It needed to be recognized that racial problems were not merely the negative legacies of the past, such as colonialism and apartheid, but were constantly being reproduced in different forms.
Japan, he said, provided protection from discrimination in its Constitution, which clearly stipulated that all people were equal under the law regardless of race and other factors. In addition, other international covenants to which Japan had already become party also extensively prohibited discrimination on grounds of race and ethnicity. Based on these principles, Japan had been striving to realize a society without any form of racial or ethnic discrimination. Japan's effort to eliminate racial discrimination was naturally not limited to the accession to the Convention and implementation of necessary domestic measures.
Joining Ambassador Haraguchi on the delegation were Makoto Katsura, Deputy Permanent Representative at the Japanese Mission in Geneva; Toshio Kaitani, Director of the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice; Kuniko Ozaki, Director of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Masaru Watanabe, Counsellor at the Japanese Mission in Geneva; Atsuhiko Beppu, Counsellor at the Japanese Mission in Geneva; Masakatsu Kobayashi, Senior Assistant at the Policy Office of Regional Improvement; Akira Chiba, Counsellor at the Japanese Mission in Geneva; Akira Iwanade, Assistant Director of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Takeshi Seto, First Secretary of the Japanese Mission in Geneva; Takashi Shibuya, Attorney at the Ministry of Justice; Satoshi Katahira, Assistant Director of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Jun Ooyori, Attorney at the Ministry of Justice; Shozo Horino, Section Chief of the International Affairs Division; Mitsuhito Wada, Section Chief at the Policy Office of Regional Improvement; Ristuko Katagiri, Official with the International Affairs Division; and Naoko Maeda, Special Assistant at the Japanese Mission in Geneva.
Posing questions to the delegation were Committee Experts Luis Valencia Rodriguez, the Committee's Rapporteur on the reports of Japan, as well as Ion Diaconu, Regis De Gouttes, Carlos Lechung Hevia, Tang Chengyuan, Raghavan Vasudevan Pillai, Patrick Thornberry, Patricia Nozipho January-Bardill, and Marc Bossuyt.
The delegation will provide its responses to the questions on Friday morning.
Before consideration of the reports of Japan began, Committee Chairman Michael Sherifis praised International Women's Day, which is commemorated on 8 March. He then read the message of Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, on that occasion.
The Committee will resume its meeting on Friday, 9 March at 10 a.m. to continue its consideration of the initial and second reports of Japan.
Initial and Second Periodic Reports of Japan
The initial and second periodic reports of Japan (CERD/C/350/Add.2) detail, on an article-by-article basis, how the country complies with the tenets and mandates enshrined in the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. The reports begin by describing the respect for fundamental human rights in the Constitution of Japan, and then delve into more specific areas.
The documents feature statistics on Japan's land and population, including the number of registered aliens, the number of foreigners in all municipalities, and the number of refugees. It also contains data on the Ainu People, who lived in Hokkaido before the arrival of the Wajin and continue to maintain their ethnic identity with efforts to pass on their own language and culture.
There is also information on Korean residents living in Japan. Koreans constitute about one-third of Japan's foreign population. The Korean residents are divided into those who have obtained the nationality of the Republic of Korea of their own will, and those who have not. These residents stay in Japan with the status of "Special permanent resident."
Presentation of Reports of Japan
KOICHI HARAGUCHI, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said racial discrimination was a long-standing problem that began with the history of mankind and had yet to be overcome. With national borders substantially lowered in international society under the rapidly globalizing economy, however, a new phenomena was being faced: the greatly increased migration of people, including illegal entries from poorer countries to richer countries. Because of this trend, new modes of racial discrimination had surfaced and had become serious social problems in many countries in a variety of forms.
Mr. Haraguchi said that in Japan, in addition to the discrimination against Utari, Korean residents and others, new problems were being caused by the influx of a large number of foreign workers - mainly from Asian countries - over the past 10 years. Surely other countries were experiencing similar racial problems caused by the changes in domestic and international settings. It needed to be recognized that racial problems were not merely the negative legacies of the past, such as colonialism and apartheid, but were constantly being reproduced in different forms. Vigilance was necessary to suppress and eliminate all forms of racial discrimination, old and new.
He continued to state that the Constitution of Japan clearly stipulated that all people were equal under the law regardless of race and other factors. In addition, other international covenants to which Japan had already become party also extensively prohibited discrimination on grounds of race and ethnicity. Based on these principles, Japan had been striving to realize a society without any form of racial or ethnic discrimination. Japan's effort to eliminate racial discrimination was naturally not limited to the accession to the Convention and implementation of necessary domestic measures.
Discussion
LUIS VALENCIA RODRIGUEZ, the Committee's Rapporteur on the reports, asked if the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination could be directly applied before the courts.
He said the number of foreigners in Japan was constantly increasing, and included Koreans and Brazilians. Japan had refugees from Indochina, Laos, Viet Nam and Cambodia. It was estimated that there were 50,000 of them.
The Ainu group, Mr. Rodriguez continued, had traditionally been subjected to discriminatory attitudes. On several occasions, they had railed against the assimilation policy. The report stated many initiatives to preserve Ainu culture, and the Committee requested information regarding the results of these measures. There were also questions about the Ainu's freedom of movement, and about their right to hunt wild animals. Ainu women sometimes could be subjected to double discrimination, and could be looked upon as objects of sexual satisfaction.
He said it had been reported that due to the precarious situation of national workers, unskilled workers were not allowed to enter the country. It was hoped that soon the doors would be opened to these people. This process had led to marginalized workers, and efforts should be made to rectify that. The traffickers who exploited these workers should be punished.
Mr. Rodriguez said the report referred to the rejection of foreigners, for example concerning the renting of houses and access to public swimming pools. It happened in restaurants as well. There were sometimes signs that said foreigners would be allowed in so long as they did not look sinister. But who made these judgments?
Mr. Rodriguez cited a November 1997 report by Amnesty International that revealed repeated mistreatment of foreigners when they requested asylum, particularly by police and immigration authorities. Asylum-seekers were given arbitrary and unfair punishments and kept in inhuman conditions. What were the reasons for this? Concerning refugees, there was a question if a refugee would be given the same treatment as a national in Japan.
Further, he said, reference had been made that a discriminatory act could be declared null and void. How was that possible? Was it necessary for the victim to initiate a legal procedure? It should be recognized that the criminal code of Japan did punish various offenses.
He expressed concern about the racist remarks made by the Governor of Tokyo who had accused people from the Third World of committing atrocious crimes. Unfortunately, nothing was done about these remarks.
Regarding the renting of public housing, Mr. Rodriguez said the same requirements should be applied to Japanese and foreigners living in Japan. More information was requested to see how the system worked. It was known that foreign children were not required to go to school, like Japanese children, although they were admitted equally. A law requiring foreign children to go to school would be helpful. Referring to a law in which a registered hotel would not be able to practice discrimination, what about an unregistered hotel? Would that hotel be able to practice discrimination?
Other Committee Experts asked, among other things, about punishments for acts of discrimination as defined in the Convention; laws adopted to protect the Ainu rights to land; the treatment of the Korean minority; the possibilities of Koreans becoming Japanese citizens; the status of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Korea; the presence of bilingual education classes; the dialogue between the Government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working to combat racism; a ban on racist activities; statistics on drug abuse and prostitution; domestic violence against foreign women; the detention of foreigners; Japanese orphans from China; legislation allowing legal action taken against private and quasi-public institutions; discrimination in the labour market; government steps to curb human trafficking of women and efforts to punish the traffickers.
* *** *
58th session
8 March 2001
Afternoon
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon started its consideration of the initial and second periodic reports of Japan on how that country is implementing the guarantees contained within the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
A Government delegation from Japan told Committee Experts that with national borders substantially lowered in international society under the rapidly globalizing economy, the greatly increased migration of people had led to new modes of racial discrimination. These had become serious social problems in many countries in a variety of forms. Vigilance was necessary to suppress and eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.
Koichi Haraguchi, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that in addition to the discrimination against Utari, Korean residents and others, new problems had surfaced in Japan because of the influx of a large number of foreign workers - mainly from Asian countries - over the past 10 years. It needed to be recognized that racial problems were not merely the negative legacies of the past, such as colonialism and apartheid, but were constantly being reproduced in different forms.
Japan, he said, provided protection from discrimination in its Constitution, which clearly stipulated that all people were equal under the law regardless of race and other factors. In addition, other international covenants to which Japan had already become party also extensively prohibited discrimination on grounds of race and ethnicity. Based on these principles, Japan had been striving to realize a society without any form of racial or ethnic discrimination. Japan's effort to eliminate racial discrimination was naturally not limited to the accession to the Convention and implementation of necessary domestic measures.
Joining Ambassador Haraguchi on the delegation were Makoto Katsura, Deputy Permanent Representative at the Japanese Mission in Geneva; Toshio Kaitani, Director of the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice; Kuniko Ozaki, Director of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Masaru Watanabe, Counsellor at the Japanese Mission in Geneva; Atsuhiko Beppu, Counsellor at the Japanese Mission in Geneva; Masakatsu Kobayashi, Senior Assistant at the Policy Office of Regional Improvement; Akira Chiba, Counsellor at the Japanese Mission in Geneva; Akira Iwanade, Assistant Director of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Takeshi Seto, First Secretary of the Japanese Mission in Geneva; Takashi Shibuya, Attorney at the Ministry of Justice; Satoshi Katahira, Assistant Director of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Jun Ooyori, Attorney at the Ministry of Justice; Shozo Horino, Section Chief of the International Affairs Division; Mitsuhito Wada, Section Chief at the Policy Office of Regional Improvement; Ristuko Katagiri, Official with the International Affairs Division; and Naoko Maeda, Special Assistant at the Japanese Mission in Geneva.
Posing questions to the delegation were Committee Experts Luis Valencia Rodriguez, the Committee's Rapporteur on the reports of Japan, as well as Ion Diaconu, Regis De Gouttes, Carlos Lechung Hevia, Tang Chengyuan, Raghavan Vasudevan Pillai, Patrick Thornberry, Patricia Nozipho January-Bardill, and Marc Bossuyt.
The delegation will provide its responses to the questions on Friday morning.
Before consideration of the reports of Japan began, Committee Chairman Michael Sherifis praised International Women's Day, which is commemorated on 8 March. He then read the message of Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, on that occasion.
The Committee will resume its meeting on Friday, 9 March at 10 a.m. to continue its consideration of the initial and second reports of Japan.
Initial and Second Periodic Reports of Japan
The initial and second periodic reports of Japan (CERD/C/350/Add.2) detail, on an article-by-article basis, how the country complies with the tenets and mandates enshrined in the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. The reports begin by describing the respect for fundamental human rights in the Constitution of Japan, and then delve into more specific areas.
The documents feature statistics on Japan's land and population, including the number of registered aliens, the number of foreigners in all municipalities, and the number of refugees. It also contains data on the Ainu People, who lived in Hokkaido before the arrival of the Wajin and continue to maintain their ethnic identity with efforts to pass on their own language and culture.
There is also information on Korean residents living in Japan. Koreans constitute about one-third of Japan's foreign population. The Korean residents are divided into those who have obtained the nationality of the Republic of Korea of their own will, and those who have not. These residents stay in Japan with the status of "Special permanent resident."
Presentation of Reports of Japan
KOICHI HARAGUCHI, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said racial discrimination was a long-standing problem that began with the history of mankind and had yet to be overcome. With national borders substantially lowered in international society under the rapidly globalizing economy, however, a new phenomena was being faced: the greatly increased migration of people, including illegal entries from poorer countries to richer countries. Because of this trend, new modes of racial discrimination had surfaced and had become serious social problems in many countries in a variety of forms.
Mr. Haraguchi said that in Japan, in addition to the discrimination against Utari, Korean residents and others, new problems were being caused by the influx of a large number of foreign workers - mainly from Asian countries - over the past 10 years. Surely other countries were experiencing similar racial problems caused by the changes in domestic and international settings. It needed to be recognized that racial problems were not merely the negative legacies of the past, such as colonialism and apartheid, but were constantly being reproduced in different forms. Vigilance was necessary to suppress and eliminate all forms of racial discrimination, old and new.
He continued to state that the Constitution of Japan clearly stipulated that all people were equal under the law regardless of race and other factors. In addition, other international covenants to which Japan had already become party also extensively prohibited discrimination on grounds of race and ethnicity. Based on these principles, Japan had been striving to realize a society without any form of racial or ethnic discrimination. Japan's effort to eliminate racial discrimination was naturally not limited to the accession to the Convention and implementation of necessary domestic measures.
Discussion
LUIS VALENCIA RODRIGUEZ, the Committee's Rapporteur on the reports, asked if the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination could be directly applied before the courts.
He said the number of foreigners in Japan was constantly increasing, and included Koreans and Brazilians. Japan had refugees from Indochina, Laos, Viet Nam and Cambodia. It was estimated that there were 50,000 of them.
The Ainu group, Mr. Rodriguez continued, had traditionally been subjected to discriminatory attitudes. On several occasions, they had railed against the assimilation policy. The report stated many initiatives to preserve Ainu culture, and the Committee requested information regarding the results of these measures. There were also questions about the Ainu's freedom of movement, and about their right to hunt wild animals. Ainu women sometimes could be subjected to double discrimination, and could be looked upon as objects of sexual satisfaction.
He said it had been reported that due to the precarious situation of national workers, unskilled workers were not allowed to enter the country. It was hoped that soon the doors would be opened to these people. This process had led to marginalized workers, and efforts should be made to rectify that. The traffickers who exploited these workers should be punished.
Mr. Rodriguez said the report referred to the rejection of foreigners, for example concerning the renting of houses and access to public swimming pools. It happened in restaurants as well. There were sometimes signs that said foreigners would be allowed in so long as they did not look sinister. But who made these judgments?
Mr. Rodriguez cited a November 1997 report by Amnesty International that revealed repeated mistreatment of foreigners when they requested asylum, particularly by police and immigration authorities. Asylum-seekers were given arbitrary and unfair punishments and kept in inhuman conditions. What were the reasons for this? Concerning refugees, there was a question if a refugee would be given the same treatment as a national in Japan.
Further, he said, reference had been made that a discriminatory act could be declared null and void. How was that possible? Was it necessary for the victim to initiate a legal procedure? It should be recognized that the criminal code of Japan did punish various offenses.
He expressed concern about the racist remarks made by the Governor of Tokyo who had accused people from the Third World of committing atrocious crimes. Unfortunately, nothing was done about these remarks.
Regarding the renting of public housing, Mr. Rodriguez said the same requirements should be applied to Japanese and foreigners living in Japan. More information was requested to see how the system worked. It was known that foreign children were not required to go to school, like Japanese children, although they were admitted equally. A law requiring foreign children to go to school would be helpful. Referring to a law in which a registered hotel would not be able to practice discrimination, what about an unregistered hotel? Would that hotel be able to practice discrimination?
Other Committee Experts asked, among other things, about punishments for acts of discrimination as defined in the Convention; laws adopted to protect the Ainu rights to land; the treatment of the Korean minority; the possibilities of Koreans becoming Japanese citizens; the status of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Korea; the presence of bilingual education classes; the dialogue between the Government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working to combat racism; a ban on racist activities; statistics on drug abuse and prostitution; domestic violence against foreign women; the detention of foreigners; Japanese orphans from China; legislation allowing legal action taken against private and quasi-public institutions; discrimination in the labour market; government steps to curb human trafficking of women and efforts to punish the traffickers.
* *** *