Opinion

Japan comes upshort on racism

By Tony Laszlo

In Durban, South Africa, 170 nations and about 950 NGOs participated in WCAR, the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (Aug. 31 - Sept. 7).

On Sept. 1, the second day of WCAR, I had the distinct honor of chairing a round-table session at which the Japanese government delegation and NGOs from Japan and other countries were present. The NGOs did a good job in highlighting some of Japan's chief racial discrimination issues, as pointed out recently by the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The issues included absence of legislation, which explicitly outlaws racial discrimination, insufficient recognition of ethnic diversity, unchecked incitement of racism by high-level public officials and ethnic- or race-based violence directed against foreigners.

NGOs based in the Philippines and others made a particularly impassioned and effective plea regarding the plight of children of migrant workers. These children are often not recognized as Japanese nationals despite having a Japanese parent, and are too often found in horrid child labor situations, rather than in Japan's elementary schools along with their peers.

To its credit, the Japanese government reacted on the fly in response to this input. In the Sept. 2 address to WCAR, the Japanese government specifically mentioned the need to address reported violations of foreigners' rights.

On another front, Japan took a wishy-washy position by which they would not oppose the inclusion of "work and descent" discrimination in the WCAR joint declaration — but would not propose it, either. If Japan's stance on the issue had only been a bit clearer, a very important line addressing the dowa problem in Japan and discrimination against the Dalit of India would have probably made it into the document.

I would have also liked to have seen Japan doing more to protect and promote the rights of the Ainu, considering the fact that their existence was publicly denied by two high-ranking Diet members in separate speeches in July. Japan, unfortunately, did not take the opportunity to insist that the Ainu and other similar people around the world be clearly recognized as indigenous people.

International controversy over the word "indigenous" notwithstanding, Japan's stance on this issue is a bit of a mind-boggler for me: yes, the Ainu were living in Hokkaido before the wajin got there, but it is not necessarily appropriate to refer to them as indigenous. What else do you call native people who were living there first?

We won't know the full impact of this conference until we see how governments and NGOs build upon the discussions that have taken place and the agreements made. However, it is already evident that this South Africa-hosted U.N. conference will long shine as a beacon, guiding the world's societies in their efforts to ensure human dignity for all.

Note: the writer attended WCAR as director of ISSHO (www.issho.org) and as a joint representative of the Japanese NGO caucus to WCAR.

Shukan ST: Sept. 28, 2001

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