Booklet lists Ainu rights in U.N. declaration

A booklet detailing the rights granted to the Ainu by the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been published by a nongovernmental organization.

Declaration of rights: Hideaki Uemura, chief of the Citizens' Diplomatic Center for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, holds up a copy of a just published U.N. booklet on rights. KYODO PHOTO

The Ainu should be allowed to participate in national politics as an ethnic group, while setting up institutions to teach their children their own language, culture and history based on the nonbinding declaration, according to the booklet published by the Citizens' Diplomatic Center for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

"While the declaration was adopted for the benefit of indigenous peoples, many Ainu asked me how to make use of it (to improve their conditions)," said Hideaki Uemura, professor of international human rights law at Keisen University and chief of the Tokyo-based NGO. "So we compiled this booklet to concretely show what the Ainu are guaranteed by the international document."

The government in June recognized the Ainu, who have lived for centuries as an indigenous people in Hokkaido and in nearby areas, including Sakhalin and the Russian-held islands claimed by Japan.

The declaration, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in September 2007, says indigenous people "have the right to self-determination" and "to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the state."

Based on these stipulations, the booklet notes that the Ainu could seek autonomy by ensuring their own financial resources, and they could set up an "ethnic assembly" as a consultative body to the Diet.

"The Diet is required to hear what the Ainu have to say when it makes policy initiatives regarding them, and the ethnic assembly of the Ainu has veto power," Uemura said, citing the relationship between the Norwegian legislature and the Saami people as an example.

The booklet also refers to the right of the Ainu to ethnic education, quoting Article 14 of the declaration, which guarantees the right of indigenous people "to establish and control their education systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning."

It should be noted that the article also requires the state to take effective measures in cooperation with indigenous people to enable them "to have access, when possible, to an education in their own culture and in their own language," Uemura said.

This article requires the state to provide ethnic education to Ainu children even if they do not live in Hokkaido, the booklet says.

On the use of indigenous land, the booklet says the Ainu could carry out their traditional salmon fishing and deer hunting without the permission of the authorities, based on Article 11, which allows indigenous people "to practice and revitalize their cultural traditions and customs."

The government's assimilation policy and social discrimination have forced the Ainu to lead underprivileged lives. But after recognizing the Ainu as an indigenous people, the government set up an expert panel to discuss its Ainu policy.

The panel, which includes Tadashi Kato, chief of the Ainu Association of Hokkaido, will come up with a proposal around July to enable the Ainu "to retain their honor and dignity."

On military activities on indigenous land, the declaration says they "shall not take place . . . unless justified by a relevant public interest or otherwise freely agreed with or requested by the indigenous peoples concerned." The center noted in the booklet that the state needs to gain the approval of the Ainu for military operations on their land.

"The Self-Defense Forces (are) required to talk with the Ainu under appropriate procedures over its military activities," the booklet notes. "This principle should be applied in case of overseas dispatch of the Hokkaido-based SDF troops."

Citing the recognition in the declaration's annex that indigenous people have suffered from historic injustices as a result of colonization and seizure of their lands, Uemura said the U.N. document "clearly indicates that the recovery of their rights should be achieved through decolonization."

"The recovery of the indigenous peoples' rights should be considered a major challenge against the historical injustices," he said.

The Ainu have welcomed the publication of the booklet. Tokuhei Akibe, deputy director of the Ainu association, said, "It is a great reference book to make us aware of our rights, including our custodial right to publicly owned lands.

"We plan to hold study sessions based on this booklet and to convey our views and requests to the government expert panel so that they can be reflected in the panel's proposal," Akibe said.

Kato, the association chief, suggested the booklet could be material for discussion by the panel "when we the Ainu are focusing on human rights with the help of the international community."

"I strongly hope the Ainu themselves will read this booklet, as they are the ones to be most affected by the U.N. declaration," Uemura said.

To fulfill his expectations, his group distributes the publication free to the Ainu, while collecting ¥1,000 per copy from other readers.