WEB特典 ――What does Human Rights Watch (HRW) do? HRW is a non-governmental international human rights organization working in about 90 countries around the world. We monitor human rights situations in those countries, publish the situations and try to use our leverages in order to influence the situations in those countries. ――How has the organization developed? HRW was founded in NY about 30 years ago. It was first founded to monitor the situations in former Russia or eastern European countries by focusing on the situations of freedom of expression. In the meantime, similar organizations were founded in Asia, Africa, America, and so on, and after 10 years, it was incorporated into one organization called HRW. We were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with other partner organizations in 1997 for the accomplishment regarding the treaty against landmines, and also we are active in abolishment of inhumane arms, such as cluster munitions. ―― How do you fund your activities? HRW is funded by the private sector. We are not allowed to take any government money directly or indirectly. Usually we are funded by business people or private foundations. Particularly in the U.S. or European countries, there are many private foundations founded by very wealthy families, such as the Gates, Ford, and Carnegie. But in Japan, we have very few private foundations, so most of our funding comes from successful business people? their private money. ――What is your particular role in HRW activities? I do everything related to Japan, but the Japan office has 3 functions. One function is advocacy. We try to influence the Japanese government's foreign policy. I talk with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs diplomats, or politicians, and try to influence policy makers in Japan in order to prioritize 人権侵害者に援助を しないよう政府を説得 “We are trying to convince Japanese government not to give these aids to human rights abusers.” INTERVIEW IN ENGLISH 英語でインタビュー ❶ 英語に関するエピソード 「書くこと」にはレベルの高い英語力が必要です。エリト リアでボランティアとして活動した際も英語でレポート を書く必要があり、英語力向上の重要性を感じました。 英語学習について 中学生のとき、イギリスに2週間ほどホームステイしまし た。生活の中で「こう言えばよかった」と思った言い回し を家に帰ってからつぶやき、英語表現を身につけました。 撮影:今井康一 どい・かなえ●国際人権 NGO ヒューマン・ ライツ・ウォッチ日本代表、弁護士。1996 年、大学3年時に司法試験に合格。2005年、 ニューヨーク大ロースクールに留学。翌年、 HRW 本部フェローとして 1 年間勤務。07 年から現職。 ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチ日本 代表 弁護士 土井香苗 Kanae Doi
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“We are trying to convince Japanese government …aids to human rights abusers, or abusive countries. At the moment, Japan does not condition those aids on human rights situations.
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WEB特典
――What does Human Rights Watch (HRW) do?HRW is a non-governmental international human rights organization working in about 90 countries around the world. We moni tor human r igh ts situations in those countries, publish the situations and try to use our leverages in order to influence the situations in those countries.――How has the organization developed?HRW was founded in NY about 30 years ago. It was first founded to monitor the
situations in former Russia or eastern European countries by focusing on the situations of freedom of expression. In the meantime, similar organizations were founded in Asia, Africa, America, and so on, and after 10 years, it was incorporated into one organization called HRW. We were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with other partner organizations in 1997 for the accomplishment regarding the treaty against landmines, and a l so we a re ac t ive in abolishment of inhumane arms, such as cluster munitions. ――How do you fund your activities?HRW is funded by the private sector. We are not allowed to take any government money directly or indirectly. Usually we are funded by business
people or private foundations. Part icularly in the U.S. or European count r ies , there are many private foundations f o u n d e d b y v e r y w e a l t h y families, such as the Gates, Ford, and Carnegie. But in Japan, we have very few private foundations, so most of our funding comes from successful business people? their private money.――What is your particular role in HRW activities?I do everything re la ted to Japan, but the Japan office has 3 functions. One function is advocacy. We try to influence the Japanese government 's foreign policy. I talk with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs diplomats, or politicians, and try to influence policy makers in Japan in order to prioritize
人権侵害者に援助をしないよう政府を説得
“We are trying to convince Japanese government not to give these aids to human rights abusers.”
human rights in Japan's foreign policy.The second function is media outreach. In order to be a very good advocate, you have to be covered by the media. If no one knows about HRW, the policy makers don't listen to us. So I often talk with the media, and we (HRW) produce a lot of press releases and reports, so I try to translate some of those materials into Japanese, so that journalists in Japan can read or at least skim through them. The third function is fund raising. In order to do media outreach and advocacy, we need the personnel. In order to sustain our personnel, we need money. So fund raising is a very important part of my work. I often talk with business people, and organize charity fund raise events.――Is there any requirement for how much you earn?There is no requirement which is determined by someone else, for example someone in NY. But I think it is generally expected that we cover our expense a t t he min imum. But my wish is to expand our office at least by adding another person, so I need to do fundraising pretty aggressively. In order to sustain our office, we need 25 million yen every year at the very minimum. I wish to raise another 20 million yen or so to expand.――We've heard that you did (invent) a unique way to raise some of the money through a charity auction. Can you explain it?We organize an annual charity
dinner every year in April. This year for example we will have it on April 5 at Hotel Okura Tokyo. For the dinner, we sell our tickets by about 50,000 yen per person. It is a seated dinner where we accommodate about 200 people. At the dinner, we present our work of the past year and invite human rights defenders from around the world; for example this year we are inviting one human rights activist from Ethiopia.――H o w d o e s y o u r l e g a l background help you in your activities?It is really helpful because we always base our work on international legal standards. We always use International Human Rights Law as well as International Humanitarian Law. When we discuss about human rights situations and then pressure the governments around the world to address these human rights abuses, we are not saying morally or ethically right or wrong; rather we base our discussions on the legal standards and try to let them follow the legal obligation. I would say more than half of the 300 HRW staff members have some legal background. ――What is the most difficult thing you face in Japan?I t h ink t ha t i s how I c an influence really the top policy makers.(30:30) (31:15)That is the biggest challenge.――Do you have any idea how that can be changed?HRW Tokyo office and our partner NGOs in Japan have to expand and be more visible to the Japanese people as well
as the policy makers. At the same time, we need to be in the media more often and try to convince the readers to be more careful about their money. Japan is a very large aid donor, and that is our money. We are trying to convince the Japanese government not to give these aids to human rights abusers, or abusive countries. At the moment, Japan does not condition those aids on human rights situations. Sometimes very abusive leaders get money from Japan, and then Japan is kind of backing those leaders in financial terms. Our role is to try to get people's attention through the media on how their money is used. ――Can you give us some of the examples of your success stories? We, together with other human rights institutions in Japan, influenced the then Japanese Foreign Minister Okada to speak up on the human rights situations in Burma as well as Sri Lanka. Japan is the No.1 donor among OECD countries to Burma as well as Sri Lanka. Perhaps not many people know the situations in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lank in 2009, at the last stage of the civil war between t h e S r i L a n k a n a r m y a n d the Tamil Tiger rebel group, thousands or tens of thousands of civilians were killed in 3 or 4 months. The Tamil Tiger rebels were using civilians as a human shield and the Sri Lankan army was shelling those civilians trapped in a small territory. It was a war crime for both sides. It is illegal to have civilians as a
human shield as well as to shell those people. So the Foreign Minister Okada raised this war crime issue (after we advocated) to the foreign minister of Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan government, I think,
had never been critiqued or being raised concerns by the Japanese government on human rights abuses. So it was a huge shock for them, and substantial s u p p o r t t o h o l d a b u s e r s accountable. There are ongoing
efforts in the UN to investigate the situations and hold those people responsible accountable, so the message sent by Okada is going to support those UN efforts.