Japan has ratified treaties with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the International Covenant on the Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). After examining issues on the Korean schools the above mentioned committees have all issued recommendations in their “Concluding Observations” that the Japanese government cease discriminating against Korean schools. These recommendations are based on treaties, which stipulate to equally guarantee the right of education without any discrimination.
Regarding the central government’s exclusion of Korean high schools from the “Tuition Waiver and Tuition Support Fund Program” and the suspension of educational subsidies by the local governments, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) issued recommendations to the Japanese government to apply the program to Korean school students and invite local governments to resume or maintain the provision of subsidies to Korean schools.
Japan has ratified treaties with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the International Covenant on the Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). After examining issues on the Korean schools the committees mentioned above have issued frequent recommendations in their “Concluding Observations.” The recommendations stipulate that the Japanese government should cease discriminating against Korean schools. These recommendations are based on treaties, which specify to equally guarantee the right of education without any discrimination.
For example, in August 2001, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) recommended that “the State party officially recognize minority schools, in particular Korean schools, when they comply with the national education curriculum, and consequently make available to them subsidies and other financial assistance, and also recognize their school leaving certificates as university entrance examination qualifications” (E/C.12/1/Add.67, para60).
In October 2008, The Human Rights Committee (HRC) recommended that “the State party should ensure the adequate funding of Korean language schools by increasing State subsidies and applying the same fiscal benefits to donors of Korean schools as to donors of other private schools, and recognize diplomas from Korean schools as direct university entrance qualification” (CCPR/C/JPN/CO/5, para31).
Regarding the central government’s exclusion of Korean high schools from the “Tuition Waiver and Tuition Support Fund Program”（Refer to Q1 for details, prior to the start of the Program in March 2010, the CERD issued concerns regarding “the approach of some politicians suggesting the exclusion of North Korean schools from current proposals for legislative change in the State party to make high school education tuition free of charge in public and private high schools, technical colleges and various institutions with comparable high school curricula” (CERD/C/JPN/CO/3-6, para22(e)). As for the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) which examined Japan’s state report in April 2013, one of the Committee members pointed out that the program was aimed to equally guarantee the right to education and that Korean school children have nothing to do with the abduction issue (Refer to Introduction for more information). The member also keenly pointed out that the abduction issue cannot be the reason to exclude the children from the program and that the Japanese government’s policy deprives the children born and brought up in Japan of their rights to education.
However, the Japanese government has emphasized that the public opinion of Japanese tax payers (resident Koreans also pay the same taxes) cannot financial support the Korean schools due the abduction issue and the relationship between the Korean schools and the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chôsen Sôren).
After communication between the Committee and the Japanese government, in May 2013, the CESCR issued a strong recommendation stating that, “The Committee is concerned at the exclusion of Korean schools from the State party’s tuition fee waiver programme for high school education, which constitutes discrimination. Recalling that the prohibition against discrimination applies fully and immediately to all aspects of education and encompasses all internationally prohibited grounds of discrimination, the Committee calls on the State party to ensure that the tuition fee waiver programme for high school education is extended to children attending Korean schools”(E/C.12/JPN/CO/3, para27).
However, at a Cabinet meeting in June 2013, the Japanese government refused to accept these recommendations from the human rights bodies asserting that the recommendations did not have legal binding power and the government did not have a duty to comply.
In August 2014, the CERD examined Japan’s state report and recommended the Japanese government not only include the Korean school children in the program, but also requested local governments “resume or maintain the provision of subsidies to Korean schools” (CERD/C/JPN/CO/7-9).