E/CN.4/2006/16/Add.2
page 23
the fact that the Koreans residents of Utoro have been placed in this land during the
colonial times to work for the Japanese State for its war effort, and considering that they
have been allowed to live there for 60 years, the Government should take appropriate
measures to recognize their right to continue to live in this land.
93.
Japanese national media should give more space to programmes on minorities, in
order to reflect the pluralism of its society and promote a culture of reciprocal knowledge
and interactions. Such programmes could be elaborated with the collaboration of
minorities.
94.
The Government should adopt appropriate measures to guarantee that foreigners
are treated equally in Japan. It should avoid the adoption of any measure that would
discriminate against them in the fields of employment, social security, housing, etc., as well
as in the exercise of all their rights and freedoms, in particular their freedom to move, to
access public places and their right not to be persecuted and perceived as potentially more
dangerous than the Japanese. Situations such as blatant refusal to foreigners for them to
access public places are totally unacceptable in a democratic country and should not be
allowed.
95.
The Government should also adopt measures to combat prejudices against
foreigners through culture, in particular through promoting the knowledge of depth of
the culture of the other. This could be most effectively achieved by promoting a vast
programme of intercultural and interreligious dialogue, the organization of foreign
cultural festivals and by creating dynamic cultural centres, of African, Arab, European
and other countries, and developing Japanese cultural centres, in particular in the
countries of the new migrants’ population, where prejudices are combated by knowing,
understanding and appreciating the culture and history of others.
96.
Communities can only plead for the respect of their human right as a discriminated
community if they guarantee the respect of human rights and do not allow for
discrimination within their communities. In this context, all communities, and specifically
the Buraku and Ainu communities, should make sure that women can exercise their rights,
as guaranteed by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women, in all fields of the political, economic, social and cultural life, within and outside
the community, on an equal footing with men.
97.
Groups that are discriminated should act in a spirit of solidarity between them, and
support each others against causes, as a way to achieve a truly pluralistic society, where all
are minorities are respected and have their place.
Note
1
Quotations provided by the “Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan”.
-----