Japan Institute for National Fundamentals

　
In a protest to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that has recommended Japan to amend the Imperial House Act, the Japanese government has decided to exclude the committee from a list of beneficiaries from Japan’s voluntary contributions to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and to cancel a visit to Japan by CEDAW members planned for the current fiscal year ending in March. Foreign Ministry spokesman Toshihiro Kitamura announced the decision at a press conference on January 29. The decision should be strongly supported as it represents Japan’s natural protest against a U.N. agency’s interference in Japan’s internal affairs.

Natural protest against interference in internal affairs

On October 29 last year, the CEDAW in a report claimed the Imperial House Act that limits the imperial throne to male-line males is incompatible with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, recommending Japan to amend the law. The Japanese government has demanded the deletion of the Imperial Household Law part of the recommendation not only during the process of making the recommendation, but also after the recommendation was published. However, the committee has refused to accept the demand. So, Japan has posted its view on the CEDAW website, Kitamura said. The view is as follows:

“Since the eligibility to succeed the imperial throne is not included into basic human rights, the Imperial House Act’s limitation of those eligible to do so to male-line males does not constitute discrimination against women as defined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Furthermore, imperial succession is related to the very foundation of the state. For these reasons, it is not appropriate for the CEDAW to take up the Imperial House Act. The recommendation on imperial succession is unacceptable and should be deleted.”

In response, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper criticized the government in an editorial on January 31. “The government’s decision to refuse financing the activities of a U.N. committee against gender discrimination, simply because its recommendations do not align with Japan’s policy, undermines trust in the Japanese government, which has upheld U.N.-centered diplomacy as a core principle.”

Asahi’s perception of the United Nations is wrong. The United Nations is a mutual aid organization of which sovereign states are members on the premise that the United Nations does not interfere in their internal affairs. The Charter of the United Nations states, “Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state…” (Article 2, Paragraph 7). Therefore, the United Nations should be utilized by member states to expand their national interests. If a U.N. recommendation that is contrary to a member country’s national interests is made, it may be natural for the independent country to protest against the recommendation, take measures for preventing such recommendation from being made again, and consider withdrawing from a relevant treaty or other measures if the recommendation is not corrected. This is a true U.N.-centered diplomacy.

Problematic CEDAW

In particular, as I wrote in this column on November 5 last year, the CEDAW is composed of experts who do not represent member countries but are independent of respective governments. Over the past three decades, anti-Japanese private organizations in Japan and abroad have pressed these experts to issue recommendations and reports that slander Japan. Despite an agreement between Japanese and South Korean governments to resolve the comfort women issue on December 28, 2015, the CEDAW in 2016 said the issue was not resolved, according to their final view.

The Foreign Ministry should thoroughly review the activities of U.N. agencies from the perspective of Japan’s national interests and utilize measures such as the suspension of contributions and withdrawal from relevant treaties more proactively.

Tsutomu Nishioka is a senior fellow and a Planning Committee member at the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals and a specially appointed professor at Reitaku University. He covers South and North Koreas.