Human Rights
UN Activities on Human Rights
UN Activities
The promotion and protection of all human rights is among the main objectives of the United Nations. The United Nations has established organizations such as the Commission on Human Rights to deal with human rights, drafted various human rights instruments, encouraged states to conclude them, adopted resolutions requesting that states should improve their human rights situations, and organized a number of worldwide conferences. In June 1993, the World Conference on Human Rights adopted the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, which has had a large impact on activities in the field of human rights. The post of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights was created in 1993, and Mary Robinson, a former President of Ireland, was appointed as the second High Commissioner in June 1997. She has been active in coordinating relevant UN activities and international cooperation since she assumed office. Japan firmly supports the High Commissioner's activities, including human rights field operations, advisory services, and technical assistance.
Japanese Cooperation
Japan has actively participated in the UN Commission on Human Rights as its member since 1982. Japan has increased its contribution to the Voluntary Fund for Advisory Services and Technical Assistance, considering cooperation in legal systems building and awareness-raising in human rights as important to improve human rights situations. Japanese experts have also contributed to these activities, as members of the sub-commission and committee in the human rights field. Japan has also concluded a number of human rights instruments.
Partnership for Democratic Development (PDD)
Japan supports institution building in various fields, such as in the legislative, administrative, and electoral systems in order to foster democratic development and protect and promote human rights in developing countries. Japan announced at the G8 Lyon Summit in June 1996 an initiative for "Partnership for Democratic Development (PDD)," which seeks to strengthen cooperative activities in the human rights field and for democratization. This initiative is based on the understanding that there exist many countries which have the political will to promote democracy and human rights but lack the appropriate systems, institutions and human resources. As examples of multilateral cooperation, Japan has supported the activities of the Voluntary Fund for Advisory Services and Technical Assistance in the field of human rights. In the bilateral context, Japan will continue to make efforts in institutional building through dispatching and receiving official experts, assisting democratic elections, and sending personnel for monitoring elections. Japan is also eager to cooperate directly with NGOs and the people of developing countries through such activities as supporting NGOs, inviting the press, and organizing symposia.
Social Issues
Women
The Special Session of the General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century," held in June 2000 at the UN headquarters in New York, appraised and assessed the progress achieved in the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women and the Beijing Platform for Action, five years after their adoption at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. The Special Session also considered further actions and initiatives. Japan has been actively working for the advancement of women. At the Special Session, Japan introduced its domestic policies on the issue and presented a statement citing the importance of the empowerment of women, respect for the rights of women, and a strong political will and action based on partnership to realize gender equality.
Japan has been a member of the Commission on the Status of Women and a Japanese expert has participated in the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Japan has also been providing contributions to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and to the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW).
Children
In order to respect and protect the rights of all children in the world, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, ten years after the International Year of the Child in 1979. In September 1990, the World Summit for Children was convened with the attendance of 71 Heads of States and Governments, and the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children, along with a Plan of Action for its implementation was adopted. As of June 2000, the Convention on the Rights of Child has been ratified by 191 countries. This fact displays its distinguished universality among UN human rights instruments. Japan ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in April 1994 and submitted its initial report for this convention in May 1996.
In May 2000, two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography and on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict were adopted by the General Assembly. These Optional Protocols increase the protection of children from sexual exploitation and involvement in armed conflicts in order to further implement the rights of the child recognized in the Convention.
As a further contribution to the protection of the rights of the child, Japan will hold the Second World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in December 2001.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has implemented long-term development activities in the fields of health, sanitation, basic education and emergency assistance. Japan is a member of the Executive Board, and has been making contributions both from the government (7.44% of total donations as of 1998) and from the private sector.
Social Development
Social problems such as poverty, unemployment, and social exclusion of vulnerable people were taken up comprehensively for the first time at the World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen, Denmark in March 1995, in conformity with a General Assembly resolution of the United Nations.
A Special Session of the General Assembly entitled the "World Summit for Social Development and beyond," held in Geneva in June 2000, convened to appraise and assess the progress achieved in the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Program of Action. The Special Session considered future actions and initiatives. Japan presented a statement citing the importance of eliminating poverty and achieving social integration and full employment for social development.
Transnational Organized Crime
Globalization has been accompanied by a dark side, or a dramatic increase in transnational organized crime such as illegal manufacturing of firearms, trafficking in persons, high-tech crime, and money laundering. Transnational organized crime, which can undermine the democratic and economic basis of societies, is a matter of serious concern and the international community should concert all its efforts in fighting against the threat. Japan, being aware that the enhancement of international cooperation and the establishment of a global legal framework are indispensable for success in our common fight, has been actively taking part in international efforts in a number of international fora, most importantly the United Nations and the G8.
In the UN framework, Japan has been an active member of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, one of the functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council, and the United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, a quinquennial high-level political congress most recently held in April 2000, which deals with problems related to transnational organized crime. In addition, Japan supports the activities of the United Nations Center for International Crime Prevention through financial contributions and dispatch of experts. Furthermore, Japan has been making its utmost effort in the negotiations for legal instruments to fight against transnational organized crime, through active coordination among States concerned. Such legal instruments include, notably, the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the elaboration of which started in 1999.
Awareness-raising
Symposium on Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific Region
Japan has attached importance to the mutual understanding of human rights as a universal value in the Asia-Pacific Region. In January 1998, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the United Nations University co-sponsored the Third Symposium on Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific Region, which provided the opportunity for experts on human rights in this region to exchange their views. Japan expects the discussions on human rights to be deepened and developed by the symposium.
Japan's Financial Contribution
Contributions to the UN Funds on Human Rights
Japan's annual contribution to the UN Funds on human rights totaled about US$ 1 million. In addition, Japan has contributed US$ 700,000 and US$ 111,000 to the Human Rights Field Operations in Rwanda (HRFOR) and in the former Yugoslavia, respectively.
ODA
Guided by the belief that human rights are universal, Japan has expressed its concern for human rights violations, calling on countries of concern to improve their human rights situations. Japan pays full attention to the human rights situations and efforts for promoting democratization as proclaimed in the ODA Charter. When any improvement in human rights situations or any trace of democratization is recognized, Japan helps these changes through aid. On the contrary, when the situation is clearly accusable, Japan reviews its ODA projects to the country concerned.
Back to Index