A paper authored by Professor Maiko Ichihara of the Graduate School of Law, titled “Japan’s United Nations Policy Through the Lens of Human Rights Diplomacy” was published in Japan in an Era of Geopolitics: A New Foreign and Security Policy Direction by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. In this paper, Professor Ichihara analyzes the evolution of Japan’s human rights diplomacy, focusing on the changing role of human rights norms and discussing Japan’s human rights diplomacy as it unfolds within the United Nations. Professor Ichihara states that a weak stance in its positioning has long characterized Japan’s human rights advocacy in UN policy as a universalist principle and in the substantive support provided. However, she argues that since the 2010s, human rights diplomacy has become more active. Amid China and Russia forming counter-narratives on human rights norms, the stage for human rights diplomacy has shifted from the United Nations to more multilateral frameworks. Finally, Professor Ichihara emphasizes the necessity for Japan to actively engage in shaping narratives that uphold liberal values and to intensify the promotion of civil liberties both domestically and internationally.

https://www.kas.de/en/web/japan/single-title/-/content/japan-in-an-era-of-geopolitics-2