-A Joint Appeal to End Ethnic Discrimination in Japanese Education

AN INVITATION TO JOIN:
A Joint Appeal to End Ethnic Discrimination
in Education in Japan
Recognize the Diplomas of all Non-Japanese High Schools!
Secure Equal Tax Benefits for Ethnic Schools!

A Call to Action
On March 28, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (Education Ministry) announced it would reconsider its “policy” of recognizing the diplomas of 16 “international” high schools but not those awarded by Korean, Chinese and other ethnic schools. The Ministry’s refusal until now to recognize diplomas issued by ethnic schools has arbitrarily deprived their graduates of the right to apply directly for admission to national universities; its decision to rethink that policy is a step in the right direction. Three days later, however, on March 31, the Ministry announced that it would apply its earlier school-certification criterion to school donations, allowing tax deductions only for contributions to international schools recognized by Western accrediting bodies. This decision discriminates against ethnic schools attended by North and South Koreans, Chinese, and Brazilians, which generally are not eligible for public funding and depend almost entirely on private grants.

The Education Ministry’s final determination on the academic status of ethnic high schools is still pending. On April 12, we organized a symposium calling on the Ministry to treat all non-Japanese high schools equally, accord tax incentives to donors to such institutions without special distinctions, and strive to foster the emergence of a multiethnic, multicultural society. The symposium criticized the Ministry’s stance on ethnic schools, in particular, and decided to mobilize teachers at national and private universities as well as concerned people across the country to oppose the government’s arbitrary and discriminatory policies.

Since September 17, 2002, when North Korean leader Kim Jong-il met Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichiro in Pyongyang and apologized for the abduction of 13 Japanese nationals, Japanese public opinion has been whipped into a xenophobic frenzy. The furor over the kidnappings has eclipsed the issue of atoning for Japan’s wartime depredations in Korea and elsewhere and frustrated the desire of many here to see Japan play an active leadership role for peace in Asia. The ethnic school problem is one manifestation of the anti-foreign backlash that is sweeping the country. We are determined to counter this disturbing trend and work toward the creation of a society where Japanese, North and South Koreans, Chinese, Brazilians, and people of other nationalities, cultures, and ethnic backgrounds can live together peacefully in mutual self-respect.

Our Request
If you agree with our position, we ask you to add your name to the joint appeal below. We also request your cooperation in soliciting signatures from others sympathetic to our goals. This appeal has been translated into several languages and sent to human rights organizations throughout the world. We wish to receive the signatures by May 31 and present them to the Education Ministry in early June. We hope that educators and people from various walks of life in many countries will join us in opposing the Ministry’s attempts to deny Koreans, Chinese, Brazilians, and others the internationally recognized right to ethnic education.*

* In 1994, Japan ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 28 of that covenant requires ratifying parties to “make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means,” and Article 30 states that where “ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practice his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.”

Homepage: http://minzoku-gakkou.mongran.com/
We have created the above homepage to publicize our appeal. In addition, the website includes presentations and materials from the April 12 symposium. We wish to post your signatures and comments, which should be e-mailed, faxed, or posted to any one of the addresses below by noon, June 30. In view of the very short deadline, we ask you to respond by e-mail if possible. To facilitate our task, please use the heading “Support Joint Appeal”. Finally, we request that you use the formats given below for individual and group endorsements, which will be processed separately.

Addresses:
E-mail: shomei@minzoku-gakkou.mongran.com
Fax: 03-3204-9495 (c/o National Christian Council)
Postal Address: RAIK (Research Action Institution for Koreans in Japan)
2-3-18-52 Nishi Waseda,
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-0051

Deadline: noon, June 30, 2003

Individual Endorsements:
Name
Place of residence, occupation and/or title (if appropriate)
Message (if appropriate)

Group Endorsements:
Name of group and endorsing members, with residence, occupation and/or title Message (if appropriate)

A Joint Appeal to End Ethnic Discrimination
in Education in Japan
Recognize the Diplomas of all Non-Japanese High Schools!
Secure Equal Tax Benefits for Ethnic Schools!

On March 6, 2003, the Ministry of Education announced that it would allow the graduates of a mere 16 out of 53 international high schools to qualify for the entrance exams to national universities. Then, on March 28, the Ministry informed the public that this “policy” would be momentarily suspended in order to reconsider the status of ethnic high schools, whose diplomas are not officially recognized.
The Ministry was forced to backtrack on its earlier pronouncement because of massive protests from across Japan. These voices were marshaled in a very short period of time to denounce this unjust policy. Some 1,433 educators and employees in 83 national universities declared in a joint appeal that “We refuse to become accomplices in abetting ethnic discrimination.” The appeal was completed in just 20 days and delivered to the Ministry in two parts on March 11 and 28. In the public comments solicited by the Ministry, an overwhelming majority of peopleÑ12,779 out of 13,343Ñstated that graduates of “ethnic schools should also allowed to take entrance exams for national universities.” These conscientious voices compelled the Ministry to rethink its policy.
On March 31, however, the Education Ministry announced it would designate the educational bodies operating Western international schools as Special Public-Benefit Promoting Organizations, thereby allowing donors to write off their financial contributions as tax deductions. Here again, ethnic schools for North and South Koreans, Chinese, and Brazilians were singled out for discriminatory treatment. The Ministry declared these schools ineligible for such tax breaks, effectively discouraging private donations.
The March 31 revision to the Income and Corporate Tax laws awarded this designation to “special schools established to provide elementary and secondary education in a foreign language.” It stipulated, however, that such schools must operate for the benefit of the children of diplomats, foreign government officials, corporate executives, and foreign students and specified that only international schools certified by Western accrediting bodies could receive this status. In other words, the Education Ministry turned around and used the very school-certification criterion it had suspended three days earlier to place ethnic high schools at a further disadvantage vis-a-vis their international counterparts. The Ministry in effect has reinstated its blatantly discriminatory “policy” of March 6.
Many pupils attending ethnic schools are forced to carry an alien registration card when they reach the age of 16. Upon graduating from high school, they find the doors of national universities closed to them. Can we, in good conscience, continue to allow these children to live in such an outrageously unjust society?

Refusing to condone such discrimination, we demand that:

1) the Ministry take legal steps to guarantee to graduates of all non-Japanese high schools the right to apply for admission to national universities; abolish discriminatory distinctions in the application of special tax measures and school subsidies; and treat non-Japanese secondary institutions of learning as “high schools” as defined in Article 1 of the School Education Law.

2) the National Diet immediately hold public hearings to voice the concerns of teachers and officials in non-Japanese high schools and conduct a survey of conditions in those schools in order to bring Japan’s educational system in line with the International Covenants on Human Rights and the requirements of international human rights bodies.

June 1, 2003

Initiators:

TANAKA Hiroshi (Ryukoku University), SATO Nobuyuki (Research-Action Institute for Koreans in JapanÑRAIK), KOMAGOME Takeshi (Kyoto University), MIZUNO Naoki (Kyoto University), SUZUKI Reiko (Moderator of National Christian Council in Japan), YAMAMOTO Toshimasa (General Secretary of National Christian Council in Japan), KITANI Hidehumi (Executive Secretary of National Christian Council in Japan), PARK Sookil (General Secretary of Korean Christian Church in Japan), CHU Moonhong (Chairperson of Social Concern Committee of Korean Christian Church in Japan), LEE Chongil (Director of Korean Christian Center)