February 27, 2010

In connection with the issue of North Korea’s abduction of Japanese nationals, some ministers, including Minister of State for the Abduction Issue Nakai Hiroshi, have called on the government to exclude Korean schools from the program making high schools tuition-free.

The House of Representatives in its plenary session on February 25 began discussing a government-proposed bill to make public high schools tuition-free. The Japanese Communist Party representative Miyamoto Takeshi in his question time said that the government should not decide to exempt specific foreign-run school children from its program to waive tuition fees at high schools.

This is an issue concerning the principle of equal opportunity in education under the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Child.

If the government intends to use the children’s right to receive education as a tool for political maneuvering, international sensibility and awareness about human rights of the Hatoyama government will be called into question.

Regarding this issue, some members of a U.N. committee against racial discrimination expressed their hope that the Japanese government will not make a discriminatory decision against Korean students.

This was made at a meeting to examine the Japanese government’s adherence to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination held in Geneva on February 24 and 25.
- Akahata, February 27, 2010