March 2, 2020
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2020 February 26 - March 3 [SOCIAL ISSUES]
ILO/UNESCO recommend that Japanese government not impose Hinomaru and Kimigayo on teachers |
The recommendation was made in response to a complaint which an independent trade union organizing public elementary and junior high school teachers in Tokyo filed last year with the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendations concerning Teaching Personnel (CEART). The union insisted that teachers are forced to stand up for the Hinomaru flag and sing the Kimigayo song at their schools’ graduation and entrance ceremonies, which infringes on their right to freedom of belief and conscience.
Pointing out that teachers have the right of quiet refusal to stand up for the Hinomaru flag and sing the Kimigayo song, the ILO and UNESCO recommended that the Japanese government convene dialogue with teacher organizations concerning rules regarding patriotic ceremonies. Furthermore, the ILO/UNESCO recommendation advised that negotiations between the government and teachers organizations seek to make an agreement that can be applied to teachers unwilling to stand up for the Hinomaru flag and sing the Kimigayo song. It also advocated that government-teacher organization talks be held for the purpose of averting any punishment on teachers who did not stand up and sing the Kimigayo song.
On March 1, a rally took place in Tokyo to set up a citizens’ council calling for the implementation of this recommendation. The inaugural rally adopted a statement demanding that the Japanese government comply with the recommendation and stop imposing the requirement to stand for the Hinomaru flag and the Kimigayo song on teachers.
The rally received solidarity messages from Japanese Communist Party lawmakers Miyamoto Toru (House of Representatives), Tamura Tomoko, and Kira Yoshiko (House of Councilors) as well as from Socialist Democratic Party head Fukushima Mizuho.
Past related article:
> Gov’t should stop imposing ‘Hinomaru’ and ‘Kimigayo’ on children [February 27, 2018]
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