"Provide information" on Henoko base construction: U.N. human rights committee requests the Japanese government

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On May 12, 2025, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), under the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, sent a letter to the Japanese government. Expressing concerns, the letter requests that the government provide information regarding the construction of a U.S. military base in Henoko-Oura Bay and explain if the Henoko base construction has violated the rights of the "Indigenous people of Ryukyu and Okinawa." The CERD has regarded the issues related to the people of Ryukyu/Okinawa as those of an indigenous people.

Image Souce: Tokyo Shimbun Digital

We are grateful that the CERD has sent the letter to the Japanese government. While the Japanese government is making its best efforts to reinforce the narrative that the Henoko base construction is a done deal, the CERD's request helps create a critical international platform where civil society not only challenges this narrative but also highlights how the U.S. side has questioned the project's viability and how the Japanese government has undermined and violated the rights of the people of Okinawa while carrying out the construction project.


                          


The CERD’s letter was sent to the Japanese government because, in November 2024, the All Okinawa Council for Human Rights and the Okinawa Environmental Justice Project provided the CERD, in a letter, detailed descriptions of how the Henoko base construction had been pushed through by the Japanese government, with the U.S. government playing a passive role. It described how the oppositional voice expressed by the people of Okinawa was repeatedly ignored, how the adverse environmental impacts were downplayed and overlooked, and how the issues of soft seafloor at the construction site and seafloor reinforcement were downplayed. It described in detail how the Japanese court system had failed to perform its functions and had instead become a mechanism that allowed the problematic construction to move forward. Our letter requested the CERD to intervene.

This is the third time the CERD has sent a letter to the Japanese government. In 2012, in response to a letter from three civil society groups, the CERD requested that the Japanese government provide information on the Henoko construction project and the measures it took to protect the rights of people in Okinawa. At that time, the Henoko project was still in its early stages, with no construction activities underway. The Japanese government sent the CERD a letter explaining how the Henoko base construction project originated as a solution to mitigate the dangers posed by the Futenma Air Station, how it was proceeding with the Environmental Impact Assessment to protect the environment, and how it was consulting with the Governor of Okinawa to foster understanding among the people of Okinawa. The Japanese government failed to mention the rape of a 12-year-old girl when discussing the reasons for the Henoko base construction project.

 

The current CERD letter requests that the Japanese government respond to it by August 1, 2025.

 

Once the Japanese government’s response is out, OEJP and AOCHR will examine it and continue our engagement with the CERD and other international institutions while challenging the Japanese government.  




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100 Civil Society Organizations and 32 U.S. Elected State and Local Official Join the Letter of Request/100の市民社会団体、32名の米国州議会議員や自治体議員らが辺野古新基地建設反対の書簡に賛同

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日本語のプレスリリースは下にあります。               October 19, 2022  PRESS RELEASE  Stop Henoko! Close Futenma!: 100 civil society organizations and 32 U.S. elected officials join the Letter of Request to U.S. Congress members   Critical momentum has been building up in the civil society's movement against the Japanese and U.S. government's plans to build a U.S. military base at Henoko-Oura Bay, Okinawa, Japan. As of October 19, 100 civil society groups and organizations and 32 U.S. elected officials at state and municipal levels have joined our Letter of Request to U.S. Congress members. We expect that more organizations and elected officials will join the Letter. Sit-in protest and blokade under Okinawa's Autumn Sky  at the Gate of Capm Schwab (Sep. 22, 2022) The Letter urges the U.S. federal legislators to take the initiative to stop the base construction at Henoko-Oura Bay and close the dangerous U.S. Futenma Air Station for which the Henok...
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プレス・リリース：オランダ軍、英国軍へ情報公開請求 世界自然遺産やんばるの森と米軍北部訓練場

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2024年11月24日 プレス・リリース オランダ軍、英国軍へ情報公開請求  世界自然遺産やんばるの森と米軍北部訓練場 2024年11月27日、Okinawa Environmental Justice Project（OEJP）は、環境省がユネスコ世界遺産「沖縄島北部」の「重要な事実上の緩衝地帯」と位置付ける米軍北部訓練場で、2022年と2024年に米軍と合同訓練を行なったとされるオランダ軍と英国軍に対し、両国の情報公開法に基づき、情報公開請求文を送付しました。今回OEJPが公開を求めている情報は、両国軍兵士が北部訓練場の訓練に参加する前に受けた環境保全に関する教育や訓練、および北部訓練場で訓練に参加している期間に兵士が講じた環境保全措置についての情報です。 現在OEJPは、「世界遺産条約履行のための作業指針」の174項に基づき、世界遺産地域と周辺のやんばるの森に対する米軍の軍事訓練活動による影響や、世界遺産地域内の米軍廃棄物に関する情報を収集しています。情報収集の結果は報告書にし、2025年初頭に、ユネスコ世界遺産センターおよびその諮問機関である国際自然保護連合（IUCN）へ提出する予定です。今回のオランダ軍、英国軍に対する情報公開請求も、この情報収集の一環として位置づけています。また、今回の情報公開請求文は、両国の駐日大使や、関係大臣、そしてユネスコ国内委員会事務局長にも送付し、それぞれの軍隊に情報公開を促すよう求めていきます。 なお、北部訓練場での合同訓練に参加している自衛隊が環境保護に関する教育や環境保全措置を行っているか、そして米軍の行っている環境保全の教育や環境保全措置を日本政府が把握しているかについては、2024年11月29日に行われるジュゴン保護キャンペーンセンターの環境省と防衛省との要請交渉のなかで質疑応答が行われます。 情報公開請求  (住所手書き、、、)
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