Prof. Yamashita’s paper at UN Human Rights Committee

The United Nations Human Rights Council
June 16, 2017
NGO: International Career Support Association
―Professor YAMASHITA Eiji

Japan’s Freedom of Expression

UN Special Rapporteur David Kaye’s Report on freedom of expression in Japan praises Japan’s high degree of freedom on the Internet, but shows great concerns regarding the freedom of broadcast and print media, among others. For most people, including non-Japanese living in Japan, Mr. Kaye’s views are sharply at odds with reality. In fact, Mr. Kaye’s views closely resemble those of the Japanese Communist Party.
It seems to us that Mr. Kaye has been strongly influenced by a handful of anti-Japan extremists living in Japan and abroad, particularly in the United States. We
have some corroboration for this claim. For example, Mr. Kaye and University of Connecticut Professor Alexis Dudden held a two-person debriefing dialogue titled “Threats to Freedom of Speech in Japan” at Mr. Kaye’s home institution, the University of California-Irvine, shortly after his Preliminary Report was released last April. Prof. Dudden is a notorious longtime Japan basher with deep animus towards Japanese Prime Minister Abe.
Given this bias, we are seriously concerned that the Kaye Report will be another Coomaraswamy Report, which also contains many grave errors of fact. The 1996 Coomaraswamy Report’s association with the UN has given these grave errors spread throughout the world. The UN Human Rights Council should withdraw the Coomaraswamy Report, and should not accept the David Kaye Report.