UN official highlights racism in Japan (China Daily) Updated: 2005-07-12 05:44
TOKYO: A United Nations (UN) investigator said yesterday there was clear
evidence of discrimination against minorities in Japan and called on the
government to pass a national law against it.
"The lack of a national law creates a void,
and this void is exploited by those who are practising discrimination or
expressing racist or discriminating feelings." - Doudou Diene, UN special
rapporteur on racism and xenophob | Doudou Diene,
a UN special rapporteur on racism and xenophobia, said that during a nine-day
visit to Japan, the world's second-largest economy, he got little sense of
political will to tackle the problem.
"Japan is a world economic power and a world political power...but Japanese
society is somehow insular," he told a news conference in Tokyo. "My conclusion
as a special rapporteur is yes, there is discrimination in Japan."
Diene, a Senegalese lawyer, said he would "strongly recommend" in a report to
the UN Commission on Human Rights next March that Japan enact a national law
against discrimination.
"The lack of a national law creates a void, and this void is exploited by
those who are practising discrimination or expressing racist or discriminating
feelings," he said.
Japan's constitution bans racial discrimination but there are no penalties
specified.
Among minority groups in Japan are ethnic Koreans and Chinese, including
descendants of people forcibly brought over before and during World War II who
are essentially Japanese but still face problems.
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