Comment on “‘Kishida’s Government without an Aide in Charge of Human Rights, a Ripple Effect of the Disappearance of the Prime Minister’s ‘Pledged’ Post.” [in Japanese]
On September 25, 2023, a comment of Professor Maiko Ichihara of the Graduate School of Law on the Asahi Shimbun article, “‘Kishida’s Government without an Aide in Charge of Human Rights, a Ripple Effect of the Disappearance of the Prime Minister’s ‘Pledged’ Post” was published. This article reports concerns that the absence of an assistant to the prime minister on international human rights, a ‘key post’ promised by Prime Minister Kishida in his LDP presidential campaign, in less than two years could send the wrong message to the international community. Professor Ichihara points out that with the rapid loss of interest in human rights and democracy in the Biden administration, the China-related agenda of conservatives within the LDP has also shifted from the issue of human rights repression to security, particularly the China-Taiwan issue. She then notes that the current post-absenteeism issue truly reflects the loss of momentum in Japan and the US that had driven the Kishida administration’s initiatives. She then comments that, with or without the post of Assistant to the Prime Minister, steady diplomacy is needed to support an international society in which freedom and human rights are protected, and that this requires an axis of Japanese diplomacy dedicated to underpinning the liberal international order.
