Human Rights Education Without a Notion of Rights? An Examination of the Japanese Case

• In Event: Human Rights and Democratic Citizenship in Education in International Contexts

Abstract

1. Objectives
This paper explores current trends and issues in human rights education (HRE) in Japan. HRE did not have effective legal support until ‘The Law on the Promotion of Human Rights Education and Human Rights Awareness-Raising’ was enacted in 2000. Nevertheless, a ‘National Action Plan for the UN Decade for Human Rights Education’ was adopted in 1997 and provided a temporary framework until 2004. This paper reports on data from an empirical study conducted with teachers in a number of Osaka schools who have experience in HRE. It explores some of the tensions in introducing HRE into the school in a political and cultural context in which popular conceptions of human rights are often limited and where the legal concept of rights has been traditionally underplayed in education.

2. Perspectives
I introduce and critically examine the concept of Dowa Education, which has been practiced in Japan since the 1950s. HRE through Dowa Education was therefore partially institutionalized prior to the UN Decade. Dowa Education is a form of HRE which aims to empower Buraku students, thereby combating discrimination against them. Buraku are descendants of former outcast communities, linked to occupations formerly considered tainted. Although legal equality is long established, social discrimination and economic disadvantage persist.
Dowa Education tends to emphasize moral and values, building students’ self esteem, and tackling interpersonal discrimination. Consequently, relational and emotional dimensions such as “kindness” and “sympathy” become the focus of learning. Dowa Education often neglects concrete or legal rights, underpinned by the Constitution and/or international human rights instruments.

This paper sets teachers’ understandings of HRE within this cultural and historical context, to consider how HRE might be most effectively implemented as a tool for social transformation in twenty-first century Japan.
3. Methods
I report on interviews conducted with teachers engaged in HRE. The study employed standardized open-ended interviews to make the interview data comparable but also allow interviewees a degree of flexibility and openness in responding. Through data analysis, I identify common features and issues shared by interviewees, as well as those peculiar to specific contexts. Documentary analysis and a literature review set the interview data in its historical and cultural context.
4. Data sources
These include documents, scholarly literature and teacher interview data.

5. Results
Teachers from several schools in different localities reported their perceptions of and challenges in implementing HRE in different schools and localities. They identify a narrowed conception and some negative attitudes towards human rights, but also believe in the power of HRE as a tool for change. There are a number of opportunities for HRE within the school curriculum. Commonly, the social studies programme of study addresses knowledge about development of human rights without relating to actual issues or students’ own experiences. Other initiatives, such as International Education or Global Citizenship Education, tend to overlook human rights principles, despite addressing human rights issues.

6. Scientific significance
The study highlights barriers to and opportunities for effective HRE with particular relevance to other East Asian countries.

Author

• Yuka Kitayama, Nagoya University