Human Rights WatchWorld Report ContentsDownloadPrintOrderHRW Homepage

World map Japan








Introduction





Asia

Europe and Central Asia

Middle East and North Africa

Special Issues and Campaigns

United States

Arms

Children’s Rights

Women’s Human Rights

Appendix




The use of the death penalty, government policy on “comfort women,” children’s rights, and asylum for refugees were key human rights concerns in Japan this year. Japan played a generally constructive role on the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Implementation of guidelines on the use of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to promote human rights and democracy was inconsistent, and policies toward human rights abusers tended to follow the U.S. lead, sometimes with different strategies and tactics.

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto resigned in July, but the Liberal Democratic Party maintained control of the government, and his successor, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, (former foreign minister), continued the same basic foreign and domestic policies related to human rights.

Human Rights Developments
On April 27, in a landmark ruling, a Yamaguchi district court ordered the Japanese government to pay U.S. $2,300 each to three South Korean “comfort women” forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers during World War II. The ruling was a rejection of existing policy denying government compensation to individuals.

During South Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s visit to Tokyo in October, the Japanese emperor, Akihito, and Prime Minister Obuchi made the strongest official apology thus far for the abuses of the past, expressing Japan’s “remorseful repentance” for “the unbearable damage and pain” inflicted on the Korean people during colonial rule. But the government announced no changes in its policy on “comfort women.”

Japan continued to use the death penalty, with some twenty-eight executions carried out in secret since 1993. In June, three convicted murderers were hanged, but the Justice Ministry refused to give notice of the executions, claiming that announcing them in advance would cause relatives “too much distress.” Japan routinely keeps death row prisoners in solitary confinement for years and prevents access by lawyers and physicians during the week before their execution.

Japan continued to refuse to grant asylum to refugees, though refugees from Burma were still allowed to stay legally in Japan on a temporary basis. According to the Ministry of Justice, in 1997 (the latest figures available) a total of 242 people applied for refugee status from countries worldwide; only one person was given asylum.

The government played a high-profile role at the ICC conference in Rome, backing the creation of the ICC. Following the appointment of a U.N. Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, Japan announced a grant of U.S. $100,000 to assist with his work and offered to sponsor a symposium in Asia on child soldiers. At the annual session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, the Japanese delegation usefully highlighted the refusal of Burma to grant access to the U.N.’s special rapporteur. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs marked the fiftieth anniversary of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights by holding its third symposium on human rights in the Asia-Pacific Region (January 27-28), with Mary Robinson, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, as the keynote speaker.

Japan’s ODA program remained the largest in the world for the seventh year in a row, with U.S. $9.3 billion in loans disbursed in FY 1997, despite a 10 percent cutback. Japan continued to voice its commitment to use ODA to promote democratization and human rights but also stressed “positive linkage,” the use of aid as an incentive, for example the effort to encourage free market reforms in Vietnam, over “negative linkage” such as aid suspension in the case of Nigeria.

The application of the ODA charter’s guidelines on democratization and human rights remained both highly inconsistent and erratic, but the Japanese government was far more consistent in applying the charter’s principles dealing with military spending and development of nuclear weapons. For example, almost immediately following India’s nuclear tests in May, Japan cancelled $30 million in grants to the Indian government and said it would consider suspending larger aid programs. It imposed similar sanctions on Pakistan when it conducted nuclear tests later that month.

The economic crisis in Southeast Asia had serious implications for Tokyo’s investment and trade relations. In May, then-Foreign Minister Obuchi toured the region, noting that Japan had committed $37 billion in aid for the region while also calling for greater transparency and accountability.


Countries


Afghanistan

Burma

Cambodia

China and Tibet

India

Indonesia and East Timor

Japan

Malaysia

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

Thailand

Vietnam


Campaigns



BACK TO TOP

Copyright © 1999
Human RIghts Watch