{"id":17761,"date":"2018-03-07T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prod-jp-raw.greenpeace.org\/japan\/press-release\/press-release_667\/"},"modified":"2024-07-08T09:03:17","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T00:03:17","slug":"press-release_667","status":"publish","type":"press-release","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/press-release\/press-release_667\/","title":{"rendered":"2018\/03\/08 Japanese government accepts United Nations Fukushima recommendations \u2013 current policies now must change to stop violation of evacuee human rights"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2018\/03\/08

Ms. Akiko Morimatsu, Fukushima evacuee, Greenpeace Japan and Greenpeace Germany staff stand with banner and a big crane Origami in front of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan building in Tokyo, March 8th 2017. The protest was aimed to tell the Japanese government to take responsibility on the human rights abuse towards Fukushima evacuees. \u5de8\u5927\u306a\u9db4\u306e\u6298\u308a\u7d19\u3068\u5171\u306b\u6771\u4eac\u5916\u52d9\u7701\u306e\u524d\u306b\u7acb\u3064\u3001\u798f\u5cf6\u304b\u3089\u907f\u96e3\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u68ee\u677e\u660e\u5e0c\u5b50\u6c0f\u3068\u30b0\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u30d4\u30fc\u30b9\u30fb\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30f3\u3068\u30b0\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u30d4\u30fc\u30b9\u30fb\u30c9\u30a4\u30c4\u30022018\u5e743\u67088\u65e5\u3002\u65e5\u672c\u653f\u5e9c\u306b\u798f\u5cf6\u539f\u767a\u4e8b\u6545\u88ab\u5bb3\u8005\u306e\u4eba\u6a29\u3092\u5b88\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306b\u4f1d\u3048\u305f\u3002 (c)Greenpeace<\/p><\/div>\n

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Tokyo, 8 March 2018 \u2013 The Japanese government has announced that it had accepted all four recommendations made at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on the rights of evacuees from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The decision is a victory for the human rights of tens of thousands of evacuees, and civil society that have been working at the UNHRC and demanding that Japan accept and comply with UN principles. The decision means that the Japanese government must immediately change its unacceptable policies, said Greenpeace. The announcement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was made in a formal submission to the UNHRC*.<\/p>\n

Japan is to give its formal decision on 16 March at the the UNHRC Universal Periodic Review session in Geneva to recommendations made by Austria, Portugal and Mexico on the need to respect the rights of Fukushima, particularly women and children, and from Germany, which called on Japan to protect citizens from harmful radiation by dramatically reducing permitted radiation exposure.[1][2]<\/p>\n

Photo:\u00a0Akiko Morimatsu, a mother and evacuee from Fukushima standing in front of MOFA with Greenpeace Japan. (c)Greenpeace<\/p>\n

At an event held in Tokyo today, where two evacuee mothers, a leading lawyer representing Fukushima citizens, Human Rights Now, and Greenpeace, explained the crisis facing many survivors and the multiple violations of their rights by the government of Shinzo Abe and the implications of its decision to accept all the four UNHRC recommendations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last seven years I have seen many different violation of human rights in Japan. The discrimination we are suffering as evacuees is a reflection of the attitude of the Government towards us, but we have been exercising our rights to be protected from radiation. I would like to believe the acceptance of the United Nations recommendations will be the start of a change in our society\u201d, said\u00a0Akiko Morimatsu, a mother and Fukushima evacuee from Koriyama.<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0Next week she will leave Japan for Geneva, together with Greenpeace, where she will participate at the UNHRC session and give a statement where Japanese government will make its official acceptance of the recommendations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cautiously welcome the Japanese government\u2019s acceptance of the UN recommendations. The government may believe that an insincere acceptance is sufficient. They are wrong to think so \u2013 and we are determined to hold them to account to implement the necessary changes that the UN members states are demanding,\u201d said\u00a0Yuichi Kaido, a lawyer for multiple Fukushima accident lawsuits against TEPCO and the Japanese Government.<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome the Japanese government decision to accept all the four United Nations recommendations. Now they must apply them in full and without delay. The government policy of allowing people to be exposed to high levels of radiation is incompatible with their acceptance of the 1 mSv recommendation made by Germany. They must now act immediately to change their policies in the interests of radiation protection of Fukushima citizens, particularly women and children,\u201d said\u00a0Shaun Burnie, nuclear specialist at Greenpeace Germany.<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Greenpeace radiation survey results<\/a>\u00a0published last week showed high levels of radiation in Iitate and Namie that make it unsafe for citizens to return before mid century, and even more severe contamination in the exclusion zone of Namie. High radiation levels in Obori would mean you would reach your maximum annual exposure in 16 days.[3]<\/p>\n

The lifting of evacuation orders in areas heavily contaminated by the nuclear accident, which far exceed the international standard of 1 mSv\/year for the general public, raise multiple human rights issues. Housing support is due to end in March 2019 for survivors from these areas. The Japanese government also ended housing support for so-called \u2018self evacuees\u2019 from other than evacuation order zone in March 2017, and removed as many as 29,000 of these victims from official records. This amounts to economic coercion where survivors may be forced to return to the contaminated areas against their wishes due to economic pressure. This clearly contravenes multiple human rights treaties to which Japan is party.[4]<\/p>\n

The briefing was held at the House of Councilors office building.Speakers were Ms. Noriko Matsumoto (Fukushima survivor); Mr. Yuichi Kaido (Lawyer for multiple Fukushima accident lawsuits against TEPCO and the Japanese Government); Ms. Kazuko Ito (Lawyer, Secretary General of Human Rights Now); Jan Vande Putte (Greenpeace Belgium, radiation protection expert) Ms. Akiko Morimatsu (Fukushima survivor).<\/p>\n

*The announcement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs<\/a><\/p>\n

Link to Photos and Videos<\/a><\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Notes<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0Universal Periodic Review<\/a>\u00a0(UNHRC website)<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0UN Human Rights Council\u2019s Review of Japan voices serious concerns for Fukushima nuclear survivors (Greenpeace Japan press statement, 14 Nov 2017)<\/a><\/p>\n

[3] A dose of 4.3 micro sieverts per hour in average in Obori at 1m height, is high enough to expose someone to the maximum allowable dose of 1mSv\/year in 16 days, following the Japanese government methodology.<\/p>\n

[4] See\u00a0Unequal Impact (Greenpeace Japan report)<\/a>\u00a0for details<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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