RIGHTS-JAPAN: Treat Minorities Right, Tokyo Told

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Mar 30 2001 (IPS) - Human rights groups are applauding a recent United Nations committee report that has called on the Japanese government to put an end to racial discrimination.

“I am happy with the U.N. observations. From the viewpoint of a second-generation South Korean, I think the report has put pressure on the Japanese government to improve our situation,” explained Pak Yong Jha, who runs a day-care centre for children belonging to minorities in Tokyo.

Last Tuesday, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said, “it believes it necessary (for Japan) to adopt specific legislation to outlaw racial discrimination”.

The report calls on Japan to enact legislation that will ban all kinds of racial discrimination. It said it also noted “with concern, statements of a discriminatory character made by high-level public officials and, in particular the lack of administrative or legal action taken by the authorities”.

The statement refers to controversial remarks made by highly popular Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara on April 9 last year when he warned the Ground Self-Defence Force to be prepared for rioting by foriegners illegally staying in Japan in the event of an earthquake.

Ishihara used the term “sangoku jin”, which literally means “people from third countries”, a dergogatory term used by the Japanese to refer to the Korean population in their country.

Korea was a former Japanese colony and large numbers of Koreans were forcibly brought over as cheap labour in local factories.

The UN Committee also noted Japan’s “reservation” on the full execution of Article 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination on the grounds it would interfere with the right to freedom of expression.

Article 4 stipulates a ban on remarks or publishing of books which may fuel discrimination. Foreign Ministry official, Akira Iwade, explained the government has not executed a law on Article 4 because it would go against its own Constitution that guarantees the freedom of expression.

“We have a reservation because of our Constitution which guarantees all people are equal,” he explained.

But the U.N. report has pointed out that Japan has not taken sufficient measures in addressing the issue of discriminatory treatment of Koreans residing in Japan and the Ainu indigenous people.

It also asked Japan to ensure the rights of all groups including the “burakumin”, descendants of the former social outcasts.

Iwade acknowledges that despite the equal rights Constitution, minorities in Japan face discrimination in their everyday life in Japanese society.

“There is racial discrimination between people. The Japanese government is working hard to eliminate this,” he says.

Pak, however, believes the Japanese government is not trying hard enough. She says a bitter issue with ethnic Koreans is the pressure to change their names into Japanese.

While international criticism forced Japan to stop including Japanese names as a stipulation in its naturalization process, social pressure continues and many Koreans or Chinese living in Japan resort to the procedure to hide their identity.

Lawyers working for foreign workers are also lobbying against a Japanese media practice of publishing names of foriegners suspected of committing crimes.

“The Japanese media tends to publish the names or use the term foreign, when foreigners are caught in crimes. This has tended to fan public resentment against foreigners,” explains Kazuyuki Azuzawa, a lawyer who has taken on some cases of foreign workers.

A February poll by Yomuiri Newspaper revealed that more than 60 percent of its respondents believed foriegners must be closely watched because they commit crimes.

A police action targetting Chinese caused an uproar late last year. The Metropolitan police department faxed leaflets to local police stations last November warning apartment dwellers to watch out for Chinese- looking people.

The leaflet said “if you hear people speaking Chinese dial 110”, the emergency number.

The paranoi stems from the fact that Chinese nationals topped the list of foreigners arrested in Japan last year for various offenses.

In yet another discrimination case, three foreigners filed a suit against a public bath house that put up a notice barring non- Japanese.

Ten percent of Japan’s total 120 million population are of foreign origin, with Koreans comprising the majority, at 650,000.