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ILO and Japan (in Japanese) |
It is my great pleasure to be invited to address the symposium commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the reopening of the ILO Office in Japan.
The ILO is an international organization with a very long history that exudes authority supported by its history and tradition. Such thoughts were reaffirmed when I had recently visited the ILO Headquarters and talked with Mr. Juan Somavia, the Director-General.
Mr. Kensuke Horiuchi, who had participated in the Peace Conference in Paris in 1919 as a member of the Delegation from Japan, commented in his memoir that the Japanese Delegation's main interests at that time were in discussing the rights and interests of Shandong province and the South Pacific Islands that Japan were to inherit from Germany. Japan did not show much interest in establishing the League of Nations for the peace and security of the world or international labour bodies. It is impressive that almost 100 years have lapsed since those times.
With regard to human security, Prof. Dr. Thakur has already made a very comprehensive and organized clarification, so I would focus on the topics of human security and the role of the ILO, and of human security and Japan.
The concept of human security is not a Japanese invention, but this term was first used in the UNDP Human Development Report in 1994 to present the concepts of human security and human-centered development. It was the late Mr. Keizou Obuchi, the Prime Minister, who first introduced this concept into the diplomatic policy of Japan. When he was the Minister for Foreign Affairs, he referred to this concept of human security in his speech entitled "Japan and Asia" presented during his visit to the ASEAN. Human security is about comprehensively eliminating all types of threats to human lives, livelihood and dignity and to reinforce efforts to combat these threats. In other words, it is about maintaining human dignity, and is equivalent to the statement included in the preamble of the UN Charter, to reaffirm the worth of the human person.
Recently human security and national security are often cited in comparison, however they are parallel concepts, not contradictory, hierarchical, or does one embrace the other.
The overview of diplomacy today points to more emphasis on the human security concept: There are many elements that threaten human existence pointed out by Prof. Thakur, such as tsunami, hurricane, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Recently we have recognized avian flu is also a serious threat to people's lives. Mr. George Bush, the President of the USA, has also attached importance to this problem in his speech at the recent summit of the United Nations. Right after this the US government held a Conference in New York to which I actually participated, to establish international partnerships to confront the avian flu. USA, Japan, Canada, Australia, UK, the current EU Presidency holder are the focal nations in an effort to influence neighboring countries in Asia. As this example shows, the emphasis of foreign policy is shifting to human security, and the USA, Europe, and Japan have come to place more interest in this issue.
The Japanese Government has been trying to advance the concept of human security, following the paths opened up by Mr. Obuchi, then Minister of Foreign Affairs and others. Japan established the Human Security Trust Fund within the United Nations to which we contribute about three billion yen from our national budget annually. More than 130 projects have already been financed by this fund. Japan does not only limit itself to making human security one of the guiding principles in diplomacy, but also created a trust fund to pursue the realization of the concept of human security for nearly a decade in cooperation with the UN and the beneficiaries.
However, not necessarily all countries agree on the concept of human security, although it may appear well received by all countries. For example, such countries as China, Cuba, India and Bangladesh are either opposed or reluctant to this idea. A certain number of countries did not agree to include the human security concept in an international document. At the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction held in Kobe this January, despite Japanese efforts to include the human security concept into the adopted document, it was not possible due to objection by several countries. Varied reasons against the concept exist, however, it seems that there are some concerns that this concept might be used as a pretext for foreign interference in domestic affairs. It is true that some countries are apprehensive to this concept although it is about protecting human dignity and not about military invasion or interference with domestic affairs.
Japan needed to overcome such opposition. Japan continued its efforts on outreach to countries so that every UN member countries can share this concept. The efforts materialized into the outcome document of the 2005 UN World Summit held September 14th through 16th. Although this was not widely reported by the media in Japan, the outcome document incorporated a paragraph referring to human security. The definition of human security will be discussed at the UN General Assembly. The human security concept should be expanded to all countries including the developing countries, and we would like to position ourselves in the center of such activities, although we do acknowledge the work of human security network group initiated by Canada.
The ILO has a long history of working on human security. The ILO's focus on Decent Work in my view is very close to the human security concept. The people need work with dignity to achieve human security, and the ILO has been working for such goal through its tripartite structure, with the cooperation of the employers, workers and the government. There may be different opinions among them, but activities to achieve human dignity may be described as a symbol of ILO activities.
As for poverty eradication, the ILO enthusiastically works on this issue. To put an end to poverty is not easy, but one of the suggested solutions is overcoming poverty through economic growth, as Japan and Asian countries have experienced. Economic growth sometimes could be accompanied by various distortion or problems so it cannot be the single solution. But by being aware of the concept of human security, we will be able to overcome poverty by decent work and economic growth. If we can achieve this target in other countries besides the Asian countries, we will come near to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
As for human trafficking issues touched upon by Ms. Mayumi Moriyama, Japanese Government is working hard on this issue. The ILO also takes initiatives on this issue. With the human security concept through various undertakings, we hope we will be able to eliminate causes of human trafficking. We need to continue our efforts to eliminate this problem and I believe the ILO can play very important and significant roles in this area. With the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and related ministries and agencies, trade unions and businesses, I hope that the ILO will play an increasingly important role in this area.