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E-Government

Japan gears up an international human rights complaint system

By Adrienne Valdez | 31 May 2011

The Japanese government seeks to introduce a system to enable people who claim to be victims of human rights violations to file complaints with the United Nations and other international organizations based on global treaties.

The Justice Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, and the rest of the concerned government agencies are working out the details and they intend to obtain Cabinet consent on the matter by the end of the year.

The individual complaint system is based on international treaties governing the protection of human rights. Under the system, the person can file a complaint with certain international organizations. The relevant organization then issues warnings or advisories to the nation if it recognizes the individual’s case as a human rights violation.

After an international organization gives its recommendation to a signatory nation of the relevant international treaty, the country is asked to investigate the cases based on the international organization’s views and report back to it.

The system can be used when nations have either ratified the optional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or declared their acceptance of the system. The optional protocol of the treaty, which defines the system and was adopted in 1966 by the U.N. General Assembly, has been ratified by 113 nations, including several European nations and South Korea.

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