Other Publications
Case C-336/19 Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België: Animal welfare and freedom of religion
AbstractThe article reviews a case in which animal welfare is balanced against religious freedom in the European Union. It stipulates that although ritual slaughter is technically allowed under certain conditions, the Court of Justice ultimately prioritizes animal welfare over religious freedom, which sets a values-oriented precedent and acknowledges the current changes in society.
Climate Politics: Can ecocide be judged? a story by Hitomi Takemura, Associate Professor, Hitotsubashi University [in Japanese]
AbstractLarge-scale destruction of the environment and ecosystems is known as ecocide, and some international law experts have called for an amendment to the Statute of the International Criminal Court to make ecocide a serious international law crime. However, the hurdles to amending the Statute of the International Criminal Court are high, and the amendments would have to be accepted by States. Moreover, ecocide is currently a new concept and is not yet an established crime under customary international law. Politically, making ecocide a crime under the Statute of the International Criminal Court may further harden the attitude of non-participating states towards the Court. One possible way to deal with this challenge might be to explore whether ecocide falls within the scope of existing crimes under the Statute, such as crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Handling of Amnesty International by the European Court of Human Rights and the Relationship between Amnesty International and the state’s obligation to investigate and prosecute serious human rights violations [in Japanese]
AbstractIn countries affected by recurrent conflicts, widespread amnesty is part of the transitional “compromise”. These amnesty measures are often seen as a means to dampen divisions between former combatants in the domestic political process, encourage reforms in the security sector, and enable elite political compromises during peace negotiations. In conflict-affected nations, human rights violations are often comparable to the most serious crimes of concern to the entire international community, such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and sometimes genocide. On the other hand, the development stage of international criminal law has been measured from the perspective of whether international law requires the relevant countries to prosecute and punish crimes under international law. Under international law, the relationship between the obligation to control crimes under international law and amnesty has remained ambiguous in the practice of the state. According to the European Court of Human Rights, amnesty for acts equivalent to a serious infringement of basic human rights, such as the willful killing of civilians, is generally accepted under modern international law to prosecute and punish such acts. There is a growing tendency to see it as unacceptable because it is incompatible with the obligations of the nation. In this article, we will clarify how the Europearn Court of Human Rights is taking an attitude towards amnesty by States parties to crimes that constitute serious human rights violations.
The Development of a Legal Notion of Equal Employment in the U.S ‐ Using Gillian Thomas’s Book as a Guide [in Japanese]
AbstractUsing Because of Sex: One Law, Ten Cases, and Fifty Years That Changed American Women’s Lives at Work as a guide, the article provides an overview of the development of what constitute unlawful sex discrimination under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, relevant judicial precedents, and legislative changes to date. With the exception of a few cases, women have filed lawsuits against employers as individuals, and the fact that these cases have accumulated to form legal notions to this day reveals the American-ness.
The Fairness Trap: Vaccine Reservation Systems and Chaos for the Elderly in Japan
AbstractThe paper addresses the political, technical and design-related issues that the Japanese vaccine distribution system faced, especially for elderly citizens. The author proposes that focusing on individual characteristics rather than fairness would have been better for the performance of the vaccination plan.
Fukushima: Depoliticizing the Release of Treated Water into the Ocean
AbstractThe article addresses Japan’s policy towards the discharge of treated waters related to the Fukushima nuclear incident of 2011 and the reactions this announcement received from different parties.
The Spread of COVID-19 and the 137 th Annual Meeting [in Japanese]
AbstractIt is another important task for labor law to build a better social system that takes into account the changes triggered by COVID-19.
European Trends on Digital Platform Regulation [in Japanese]
AbstractRegarding the various EU digital platform (DPF) regulations, this article deals with DPF-related institutional reforms and legislation introduced by the European Commission from 2014 to the present.
Multilateralism and democracy in Asia [in Spanish]
AbstractThe article proposes that institutional and cooperation frameworks that had been developed in Asia by the first decade of the 2000s have had few tangible outputs. Political instability and the rise of authoritarian powers such as China represents a challenge for the expansion of democracy in the region. The answer to prevent this will be based on cooperation, consolidation of emerging democracies and institutionalization, but this could be even more challenging with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Seoul incident and feminism: Five Korean socially conscious films that are both art-oriented and popular [in Japanese]
AbstractMany Korean films are bold in their criticism of politics and power, and touch upon historical and social issues. The strength of Korean cinema is that it combines art and popular appeal. In particular, the "Candlelight Revolution"（2015-2017）that led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye, triggered the emergence of socially conscious films.