According to official statistics by the respective governments of the two countries, Japan’s human rights record is much worse than China’s.
Actually, the official website of the government-sanctioned Chinese Society for Human Rights Studies doesn’t really keep official statistics on human rights abuses in China. It does have some glowing reports on how quality of life is improving in China, and several reports noting human rights abuses in the United States. AsiaPundit will assume that the lack of a need to measure means there isn’t any real problem.
In Japan, however, the Justice Ministry has noted a four percent increase in human rights violations in 2005.:
TOKYO — The number of human rights violations reported to the Justice Ministry’s regional legal affairs bureaus across Japan reached a record high 23,800 in 2005, up 4% from the previous year, a ministry tally showed Thursday. Such violations using the Internet climbed nearly 40% to 272 cases, according to the ministry’s Civil Liberties Bureau.
Of the total violations, about 10% were by public servants and teachers. By type, cases of sexual harassment and other forcible action reached 7,144, assault and abuse 5,040, and noise and other action affecting community safety 4,790, the ministry said. Human rights violations using the Internet involved posting the faces of suspects in juvenile crime cases and discriminatory messages on websites.
To be fair to the Japanese, the ministry does consider noise pollution a human rights violation. Were that to apply in China, the ubiquitous car horns and late-night construction noise would mean that the human rights of AsiaPundit and all other Shanghai residents are violated on a daily basis.
Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, human rights, japan, northeast asia
April 5th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
I wish late night noisy contruction was a “crime,” here in Mongolia. 23:30 and the big crane is just getting warmed up…
April 5th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
The Japanese legal system is the most draconian in the world. Isolation of foreign nationals, endless trials, beatings, forced confessions and long term torture are the norm.
Human rights groups have been repeatedly denied access to areas of their detention and confinement facilities.
Athletes and public officials are often in the news for LEGALLY buying their way out of rapes and brutality. Foreigners don’t fare as well–not that anyone should. But, the Japanese goose step their inmates to and from brutal conditions that, in case you are inclined to think brutality prevents recidivism, create the world’s highest return to jail rate.
It is damned easy to point fingers at China, but we seem to give a blank HR check to our alleged allies in Japan.
Thanks for the post.
Lonnie B. Hodge
April 5th, 2006 at 11:37 pm
Hello Pundit
Overall there is a manifest behavior by nation-states to sanitize their abuses. This is not localized to China and Japan but is also symptomatic in the USA in a scale never seen since WWII.
The government will most likely not punish itself similar to a common criminal not turning oneself in.
PEACE
DAVID NOLLMEYER
April 5th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
The problem with paradoxical post like this one is that there’s always someone who takes it seriously.