뉴스레터

August 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia. Mankind has written new chapters in history by learning from its past mistakes and applying the lessons learned to making the world better place to live in. In Europe, for example, when the war had ended there about three months earlier than in Asia, people recognized the failure of the states responsible for starting WWII to respect the human rights of their citizens. Accordingly, they decided to create governments that respected human rights as a necessary step to prevent another war. What they envisioned was Germany and other European countries working toward regional integration based on a set of common values. This led to the formation of the Council of Europe in 1949 and the European Community in 1952, and the adoption of the European Convention on Human Rights in 1950. What about in Asia?

In Asia, there were also equally many cases of massive human rights violations in its modern and contemporary history. But the ruthless killings committed by Imperial Japan in its aggression of Korea didn't receive much attention in world history. Neither did the Armenian Genocide committed by the newly established Turkish government with the start of World War I, where at least eight hundred thousand and up to one million were killed, or the Nanjing Massacre committed by the militarist government of Japan in 1937 (the number of victims is at least 340,000, and up to 377,400 if the figure 227,400 appearing on the Chinese burial record is added to the figure 150,000 found in the Japanese Army Major Ota Hasao's memoir). These incidents have never led to the establishment of human rights protection systems in Asia.

Voices Addressing Human Rights Violations in Modern and Contemporary Asian History Drowned Out in the Cold War

The condition which allows the Japanese government led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to deny, and even fabricate, history today was created after the end of World War II because the war had ended in such a way that the victorious countries in the West took center stage while the victim countries in the East were neglected, and the ensuing Cold War drowned out the voices of those East Asian countries to which Imperial Japan had caused enormous damage, But things have changed as the victim countries have nearly put an end to the Cold War situation and achieved such a remarkable economic growth that their GDPs account for a considerable portion of world economy. Unlike for the past seventy years, the victim countries are now in a position to speak up for themselves in new and strong voices.

Japan's wrong perception of history and denial of responsibility, and China's fabrication of history through the Northeast Project (東北工程) among other initiatives, need to be dealt with and refuted on the basis of historical facts. At the same time, it is necessary to establish institutions for the regional integration of East Asian countries according to common values. "There will be no peace (in Europe) without international cooperation," said Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of the European Union, "In order to maintain peace, Europe needs institutions." In the same spirit, I suggest that the Republic of Korea take the initiative and make this year, the 70th year since liberation, the first year toward building a human rights community in East Asia, i.e. a system for the protection of human rights in East Asia.

Asia is the only major continent of the world that has no regional human rights protection system in place. All the others, Europe, the Americas, and Africa, have one. There are obstacles to building such a system in Asia, but it is possible to tackle some of them, such as a lack of political will in countries within the region, a strong belief in state sovereignty, and the tradition of nonintervention with the internal affairs of other countries, through the intervention of international organizations working globally or outside the region or pressure from non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The issue of heterogeneity among countries can be overcome by finding common ground through the promotion of regional economic blocs and globalization. And the concern that human rights violations in a certain country within the region will cause trouble and invite sanctions can be also overcome by building trust. Of course, the issues of religion and value can take quite a long time to resolve, but they can become less important with the modernization of this region.

Consider Addressing Human Rights Issues at ASEAN Regional Forum

In Northeast Asia, a good place to address human rights issues would be the Multilateral Conference (or Council) on Security and Cooperation in Northeast Asia, modeled after the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), the possibility of which has been discussed. Alternatively, since organizing such a conference is expected to take quite a long time, consider making the most out of existing forums, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and including human rights issues in the agenda for discussion, which could expand with the development of the forum. Specifically, starting with certain topics that are relatively easy to relate to, such as women's rights and children's rights, would be a good idea.

Considering that a strong belief in state sovereignty is prevalent in Northeast Asia and that it will take quite a long time before the Multilateral Conference (Council) on Security and Cooperation in Northeast Asia will become a reality, there is yet another alternative, which is to encourage the establishment of national human rights commissions as the agents of activity which will be monitored and provided with information and materials by NGOs in cooperation for improvement.

The regional human rights protection system in Europe is a historical half-measure based on integrated diversity, and it is still under negotiation. It is time to remember that diversity in Asia is an issue that can be also patched up through dialogue and negotiation as in Europe in pursuit of the universal value of human rights.