The JCLU-sponsored annual Kubota Memorial Symposium took place at Tokyo's Waseda University on November 29 of last year. In his opening remarks, the JCLU representative director, Jun’ichiro Hironaka explained the origins and development of the Kubota symposium, and the activities of the JCLU up until the present. Fourteen years ago, at the time when You Kubota, as a United Nations staff member, was wrestling with human rights problems, the JCLU did almost no international work. Now, however, it is concerned with human rights issues regardless of whether they are domestic or international. Internationally, there is now a broader arena for action.
In his greeting, the JCLU director noted that human rights as a keyword in the new graduate law schools will reconfirm that they are a fundamental aspect of the legal profession. He noted his desire that the graduate law schools be made places for discussion about these issues.
In a message from Mrs. Fiona Kubota conveyed by Yasushi Higashizawa, general secretary of the JCLU, she expressed her feeling that, were You Kubota still alive, he would have been extremely happy at the choice of the symposium theme. She also noted that the establishment of law schools with human rights as an element of the curriculum was an exciting perspective.
The symposium began with keynote reports by JCLU director Mr. Akira Nakagawa, and by Mr. John Tobin, former administrative director of Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program. These were followed by a discussion by four panelists from NGOs and by the presentation of the results of a survey questionnaire distributed to graduate law schools planning to start operation. All this added up to a very rich and fruitful symposium.
For details on the results of the questionnaire survey, interested readers should contact the JCLU secretariat concerning the separate written report.
Akira Nakagawa
First, Mr. Akira Nakagawa gave a keynote report on subjects needed in the new graduate law schools based on his experience with lectures and exercises at Hokkaido University. Ex-Professor Nakagawa expressed the view that “in addition to mastering legal technique, students intending to become legal professionals must place importance on knowledge of the facts that serve as the premises of legal technique. Also important is an interest in people's daily lives and in human relations.” Prof. Nakagawa asserted that what needs to be discussed from now on is legal education that is not limited solely to legal technique. “Facts in textbooks, facts appearing in court decisions for the purpose of guiding legal reasoning, and facts in scholarly opinions which are conveniently trimmed to the necessary extent, are often remote from reality. Again, human rights must be grasped in a way that activates our imagination. For this it is necessary to stand in the shoes of the weak and of minorities, and by constructing a narrative of the facts of injury and discrimination, to re-experience them. Putting a high value on facts, and thinking of law school as a process, it is important to devise lectures and exercises that stimulate the imagination,” he indicated.
Prof. Nakagawa further noted that, “In order to foster imagination regarding human rights in a limited time, lectures should be given by people actually involved in NGO activities, and students should be sent to the sites of NGO work, and should be allowed to think about problems together with NGOs , even if for only a short time.” Prof. Nakagawa proposed that what is needed in graduate law schools is an education that elicits imagination about human rights and a feeling for human suffering.
John Tobin
Next, Mr. John Tobin offered a report on the historical development of systematic links between American law schools and NGOs/NPOs dealing with human and civil rights. According to Mr. Tobin, the development of systematic links between American law schools and NGOs had its origin in the emergence of “public interest law,” in the 1960s, aimed at serving the poor. “Clinical legal education also emerged out of this period. The basic idea of clinical education is that legal education should not be simply classroom education. Law students should learn “lawyering” skills—those skills that good practicing lawyers possess—in a practical setting, by doing what lawyers do, under the supervision of experienced practitioners.”
Tobin noted that there are three models of clinical legal education: the in-house clinic, in which the law office is a part of the law school; the externship program, and simulations. For example, at Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program, students work in in-house clinical courses on projects suggested by human rights NGOs. The Program also has an externship component, providing funding for law students to work at NGOs or IGOs for several weeks as summer interns. Three years ago, there was a Harvard summer intern working at the JCLU through this summer internship program. Mr. Tobin discussed the importance of integrating students’ work at NGOs with their coursework at law school.
Michiya Kumaoka
The panel discussion was begun by Mr. Michiya Kumaoka, representative of the Japan International Volunteer Center. He noted that in graduate school one can have very concrete discussions about the actual content of NGO activities, and through them, about the faces, voices and situation of local people. One can thus respond to demand to a certain extent. “Our home office is hosting quite a few interns. By working there they can not only obtain information on some 10 countries in which activities are being carried out, but also have a chance to directly hear what the staff has to say. Participating in various study tours, usually for one year, can be a very fruitful learning experience. There are also interns who are on-site abroad for a long period of one to two years. For the local staff, the presence of an intern means an increase in person-power to carry out activities. For the intern, on the other hand, the ideal is the ability to improve his or her capacities. In actuality, however, there are big gaps between the expectations of both sides (on the one hand the intern's desire for training and study, on the other the NGO’S need for persons with specific, useful abilities). Conflicts and problems often occur. If things go well, the internship makes sense, but it's a fact that problems can easily arise.
Toshiya Hirose
Mr. Toshiya Hirose, general secretary of the Citizen Legislation Organization explained that “our NGO is really very short of persons who can work during the day. For this reason, the participation of young people is important. “it is good to be able to have the assistance, as a part of our program and our practical activities, of law school students, who can participate and help with actual legislative activities as training. This assistance is provided to citizens’ groups in various regions aiming at legislative activities concerning problems which citizens are confronting. A kind of legislative literacy, legislative technique should be a part of the law school curriculum. Presently, when each local government assembly has become involved in creating various local ordinances, at the local level there should be many opportunities to be active for people who have learned about legislative technique. It is very important that they participate in these local efforts.
Jeong-ok Kim
Mr. Jeong-ok Kim, head of the Center for the Protection of the Rights of the Disabled and the Japan Committee of Disabled Peoples International (DPI), noted that the situation of the disabled hasn’t been thought about as a human rights issue. “Disability has been discussed in the same context as diseases that must be cured. Recently, however, it is finally becoming recognized as a human rights issue. With respect to the relationship of disability to human rights education, it is important to create a system, based on a human rights standpoint, that is committed to a process in which the disabled become able to assert their rights on their own. In this sense participatory or experiential human rights education has great significance, and it should be adopted in discussions about externships.” While grappling with activist human rights education in law schools, if there is a program, it is also necessary for NGOs actively to define their work as being a part of human rights education, and struggle to make their own work a part of such education.
Makoto Teranaka
In the case of interns who come to Amnesty also, conflicts occur because of the complex procedure of the secretariat, noted Mr. Makoto Teranaka, general secretary of the Japan section of Amnesty International. But this is a baptism that, if overcome, can result in the creation of a genuine activist. People who arrive as interns or volunteers can become useful at the quickest in one month. It usually takes over three months, and for some it takes a year. There are many internships that are less than two weeks. Internships with such a short term could be a nuisance, and had rather be discontinued. They just give rise to conflicts. Teranaka noted with some severity that such internships satisfy no one's demands. “It is essential that graduate law schools know NGO technique. I would like them to know how human rights groups set up their campaigns, the technique of the process. I think externships and internships are good tools, but there are insufficient prerequisites. It's doing work in defense of human rights, but the actual work is campaigns which aim at a severe reality. It is necessary first to change consciousness about this part of NGO activity.