Statement to UN Human Rights Council protesting the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping as State Guest of Japan
By
United Nations A/HRC/43/NGO/X
General Assembly Distr.: General
XX February 2020
English only
Human Rights Council
Forty-third session
24 February–20 March 2020
Agenda item 4
Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention
Joint written statement* submitted by Japan Society for History Textbook, non-governmental organizations in special consultative status
The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.
[13 February 2020]
We Protest the Invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping
as a State Guest of Japan
The Japanese Government is planning to have Chinese President Xi Jinping visit Japan as a state guest.
The Chinese Government has trampled on the peoples’ right to self-determination in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR, East Turkistan), Tibet, and Inner Mongol (South Mongol). It has been reported within the Uighur Region that the Chinese Government sent more than one million Uighur people to concentration camps and is undertaking a policy of ethnic cleansing. Currently, in Hong Kong, the Chinese Government increasingly oppresses a democratic movement taking place there. Around fifteen Japanese are unlawfully in custody within China on charges of allegedly “spying”.
Under these circumstances, if the Japanese Government invites Chinese President Xi Jinping as a state guest and, while in Japan, the Chinese President has an audience with the Emperor, the international community will say that Japan approves of China’s utter disregard of human rights. Such a situation is not at all desired by the Japanese people.
Presently in Japan, many Japanese people are against Chinese President Xi Jinping’s prospective visit to Japan as a state guest. Various civic groups have announced their opposition against the visit and thousands of people are participating in rallies, marches and demonstration.
We demand the following, through the United Nations Human Rights Council:
1. The Japanese Government should cancel the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Japan as a state guest,
2. The Chinese Government should duly observe the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and faithfully fulfill the recommendation made by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD/C/CHN/CO/14-17).
International Research Institute of Controversial Histories (iRICH) NGO(s) without consultative status, also share the views expressed in this statement.