Civil and Political Rights in Japan ― A Tribute to Sir Nigel Rodley

The human rights issues in Japan are multifaceted. Over decades, domestic and international human rights organisations have raised concerns, but government obstinacy has meant there has been little progress. Recommendations of UN human rights bodies are routinely ignored, and statements by the government in the Japanese parliament regarding these recommendations have been dismissive. At the review of Japan’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 2014, Professor Nigel Rodley, then chair of the UN Human Rights Committee, lamented the lack of true engagement by Japan and the country’s unwillingness to take any action on the conclusions of UN human rights bodies. Equally worrying is the clear trend over recent years of popular publications bashing neighbouring countries and their nationals living in Japan as well as UN human rights bodies. This book explores the issues surrounding human rights in Japan, and what the future might hold for the country.

Saul J. Takahashi is a human rights lawyer currently located in Tokyo, where he is the Japan Representative for the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre and teaches human rights related courses at several universities. He is also doing research on the rights of Muslims in Japan as a doctoral candidate at Waseda University. From April 2019, he will be employed as Professor of Human Rights and Peace Studies at Osaka Jogakuin University. Takahashi has worked at Amnesty International in Tokyo and in London and for international organisations in Geneva and Vienna, and from 2009 to 2014 was Deputy Head of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Occupied Palestine. He holds an LLM in international human rights law from the University of Essex and is the author of several books, including Human Rights and Drug Control: the False Dichotomy, Human Rights, Human Security, and State Security: the Intersection (ed.), and Paresuchina-jin ha kurushimi tudukeru: naze kokuren ha kaiketsu dekinai no ka [The Palestinian People Continue to Suffer: Why the UN Can’t Solve the Problem].