Published on September 17, 2019.
This essay criticizes UN Special Rapporteur David Kaye, IMADR, the issue of freedom of expression in Okinawa, protests against the Henoko base construction plan, Okinawan media, and the UN Human Rights Council, arguing that anti-Japanese advocacy has been used internationally to damage Japan’s national interests.

September 17, 2019.
Merely calling him “Mr. David Kaye” makes it immediately clear what kind of man this person is, but even so, the terribleness of the United Nations has truly reached its extreme.
The following is another article by this man, which I subsequently found.
UN Special Rapporteur Expresses Concern over Freedom of Expression in Okinawa.
Komatsu Taisuke.
IMADR Geneva Office, in charge of UN advocacy.
＊Concern over freedom of expression in Okinawa.
Is this not, rather, a mistake for concern over the extreme biased reporting that abuses freedom of expression by the two newspapers that dominate Okinawa?
Even if I say this, this man, whether he is a communist, a believer in the Asahi Shimbun, or the very embodiment of a doctrinaire mind hardened by a self-abasing historical view and anti-Japanese ideology, would probably not understand it at all.
However, Japanese democracy, which not only lets such a man run loose but also allows him, under the name of the United Nations, to keep degrading his own country to his heart’s content in France and Switzerland, has gone somewhat too far.
This is democracy with its restraints removed.
The United Nations should issue a recommendation to Japan saying that Japanese democracy has lost its restraints.
It should say that continuing to leave alone people who keep degrading their own country abroad to this extent, and who continue to seriously damage the national interest, is not called democracy and is not called a proper state.＊
From April 12 to 19, 2016, Mr. David Kaye, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on “freedom of opinion and expression,” officially visited Japan and investigated the domestic situation of freedom of expression, including issues such as freedom of the press, the right to know, the right to express opinions peacefully, and hate speech.
Special Rapporteur Kaye is a professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, and has held the mandate of Special Rapporteur since 2014.
This official visit, which was realized amid concerns that it might once be canceled, therefore carried great expectations from civil society.
＊Merely calling him “Mr. David Kaye” makes it immediately clear what kind of man this person is, but even so, the terribleness of the United Nations has truly reached its extreme.＊
To begin with, this official visit had been scheduled to take place in December 2015, but in November the Japanese government suddenly requested that it be postponed until the autumn of 2016, on the grounds that “meetings with relevant government officials cannot be arranged.”
This was an unprecedented course of events.
In response to this sudden postponement, which was effectively taken as a cancellation, IMADR, together with Amnesty International Japan, Human Rights Now, the Lawyers’ Group Against the State Secrecy Law, and others, submitted a joint NGO request to Foreign Minister Kishida, asking that the official visit be realized by the first half of 2016.
Perhaps because the media also took up this postponement issue, the Japanese government decided in February of this year to once again accept Special Rapporteur Kaye’s official visit in April.
Ironically, on the day after the final day of the official visit, the international NGO Reporters Without Borders released its World Press Freedom Index, and Japan fell sharply from 61st place the previous year to 72nd place.
It was a week that seemed to symbolize the crisis of freedom of expression in Japan.
IMADR believed that, precisely because the official visit had been postponed, continuous provision of information was important.
Together with the UN Division of the All-Okinawa Council to Realize the Kenpakusho and Open the Future, hereafter the All-Okinawa Council, the Okinawa Biodiversity Citizens’ Network, and the Citizens’ Diplomatic Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, it prepared a report titled “Violations of Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Peaceful Assembly in Okinawa, Japan,” and submitted it to Special Rapporteur Kaye last December [1].
This report details, over 18 pages, a series of issues concerning freedom of expression, including the SLAPP lawsuit [2] brought by the Japanese government against residents opposing the construction of helipads in Takae, a series of repressive responses such as the excessive use of force and detention by police officers, riot police, and Japan Coast Guard officers against people protesting on land and at sea in Henoko, arrests through the application of the Special Criminal Act [3] and obstruction of public duties, the suppression of Okinawan media symbolized by the Hyakuta incident, and violations of the right to know such as the concealment of Osprey deployment.
It also includes a list of 61 cases, reported between January 2014 and December 5, 2015, of violence, detention, and arrests against people protesting in Henoko.
IMADR was responsible for compiling this list, but because the major mainland media report on the protests in Henoko only when a famous person is arrested, it was virtually impossible to gather sufficient information from mainland media.
This was a task that once again made us recognize the importance of Okinawa’s local media for the people of Okinawa and for all of Japan.
In addition, a report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, OHCHR, submitted to the 31st session of the Human Rights Council in March this year, revealed that four Special Rapporteurs, including Special Rapporteur Kaye, had sent a joint letter to the Japanese government expressing concern over four cases of unjust arrests and detentions in Henoko in February and March 2015.
These four cases had been reported last year to the Special Rapporteurs by the UN Division of the All-Okinawa Council in cooperation with IMADR.
Among them was the case on February 22 of last year in which U.S. military security guards dragged Yamashiro Hiroji, chairman of the Okinawa Peace Movement Center, into Camp Schwab at the gate in Henoko, detained him, and later arrested him on suspicion of violating the Special Criminal Act.
Yamashiro had been calling on people participating in the protest movement not to cross the yellow line drawn at the gate, yet he was detained on the grounds that he had crossed the line.
In response to the communication, the Special Rapporteurs on “human rights and the environment,” “the freedom of peaceful assembly and association,” “the situation of human rights defenders,” and “freedom of expression” sent a letter to the Japanese government requesting that it provide detailed information on the four cases, indicate the legal grounds that led to the arrests, and answer what measures were being taken to respect the right to peaceful assembly.
However, in response to this, the Japanese government replied that the Okinawan police and the Japan Coast Guard were acting in accordance with the law in fulfilling their duty to protect people’s lives and bodies, public order, and other matters in response to protests against the new base construction plan, and that Japan was not violating any of its obligations under international law.
Such a reply cannot at all be said to answer sincerely the concerns of the Special Rapporteurs, and it is also insufficient, showing no sense of willingness to improve.
As if to prove this, Michel Forst, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, repeated his concerns in his own report submitted to the 31st session of the Human Rights Council, saying, “I reiterate my concern regarding harassment, the excessive use of force, and arbitrary arrests against people peacefully protesting.
I also reiterate my concern regarding the treatment of peaceful protesters, including human rights defenders who are making lawful efforts to protect Okinawa’s biodiversity, in connection with the construction of a new military base at Oura Bay in Henoko.”
Because of this background, Special Rapporteur Kaye also showed great interest in the situation in Okinawa during his official visit.
It is known that, during his meeting with officials from the National Police Agency and the Japan Coast Guard, Special Rapporteur Kaye conveyed his concerns regarding responses to protests in Henoko.
I do not know what kind of reply the government gave to this, but I think that the kind of reply mentioned above was probably repeated.
However, the government should originally take seriously the repeated complaints from participants in protest activities and implement concrete improvement measures, such as conducting human-rights training for police officers, riot police, and Japan Coast Guard officers responding to protests in Henoko, with the aim of preventing excessive use of force and unjust arrests.
However, because no such improvement measures have actually been taken, it is likely that Special Rapporteur Kaye’s concerns deepened further.
Reflecting this, the preliminary recommendations issued on the final day of the official visit devoted an entire paragraph to Okinawa.
Below, I introduce the Japanese translation [4].
In particular, I conveyed my concerns to the Japan Coast Guard regarding public protests in Okinawa.
Last year as well, I conveyed concerns to the authorities regarding allegations of excessive restrictions on protests taking place in Okinawa.
I have received credible reports regarding the excessive use of force and several cases of arrest.
I am particularly concerned about reports of the use of force against journalists filming protests.
When restrictions are imposed in specific areas for national security, a careful process of reassessment must be established to prevent human-rights violations.
I will continue to monitor the situation in Okinawa and, if necessary, express concerns in order to encourage space for peaceful protest.
Special Rapporteur Kaye is scheduled to submit a report containing the findings and recommendations from this official visit to the Human Rights Council next June.
Whatever phase the Henoko new base construction plan, for which discussions between the national government and the prefecture are still continuing, may reach next year, it is essential that freedom to engage in peaceful protest, which is also the last fortress for people to express opposition to government policy, be guaranteed, and that the freedom of the press of Okinawan media, which continually convey information not reported by major mainland media, be protected.
So that the report will sufficiently address Okinawa, where freedom of expression can be said to be under attack in particular compared with other regions of Japan, IMADR will continue to provide further information together with its Okinawan partners, making use of the strengths of its Geneva office.