On November 8, 2002, the JCLU submitted another statement demanding that the Human Rights Protection Bill - which proposed the creation of a national Human Rights Commission - be significantly revised and resubmitted to the Diet. The bill had been carried over from the previous Diet session.
While the JCLU has recognized from the outset that a national effort to combat human rights violations must include a national human rights commission, the JCLU statement included major criticisms of the bill. One was that the proposed commission would not be sufficiently independent of the Ministry of Justice, making it unlikely to resolve human rights violations that occur in the detention centers, prisons, and immigration control facilities under the Ministrys jurisdiction. A second major criticism was that the bill would subject the news media to a special relief procedure,Ejeopardizing freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
Other criticisms of the Human Rights Protection Bill were presented in JCLUs November 6, 2002 joint statement with the International Human Rights NGO Network. For details regarding JCLUs position, please refer to Universal Principal No. 10 or the JCLUs website (Website includes full text of statement in Japanese.)
Editors Note: The Bill was withdrawn in October 2003 with dissolution of House of Representative. But Ministry of Justice is preparing the new bill, in which the Commission is still put under the Ministrys jurisdiction. The UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the UN Committee on Rights of Child, both of which held consideration of Japanese Government Report after withdrawn of the bill, recommended to ensure the independency of the proposed Commission.