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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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