FOREST PEOPLES PROGRAMME
INFORMATION NOTE: 3 APRIL 1997
JAPANESE COURT RECOGNISES AINU AS INDIGENOUS
In what could be a landmark case for the Ainu of Japan, on 28 March 1997
a local court in Sapporo, Hokkaido, recognised the Ainu people as an
indigenous and minority people.
Japan has been one among a number of Asian Governments that have denied that
emerging international legal principles which recognise the rights of
indigenous peoples apply to Asia.
The Ainu are the indigenous people of the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido,
who have been gradually conquered by and assmilated into the expanding
Japanese nation over several hundred years. Final annexation of the Ainu of
Hokkaido by Japan did not take place until 1868 at which time the Japanese
government unilaterally extended Japanese administration over the Ainu areas
of Hokkaido and initiated a vigorous policy of assimilating the Ainu into
Japanese society. However, despite these official intentions, the Ainu, who
are considered to be of inferior status by mainstream Japanese, have been
discriminated against and in recent years they have begun to assert control
of their own affairs and demand respect for their rights and their identity
as an indigenous people. The Ainu have also been protesting against the
flooding of their ancestral lands by the Nibudani dam.
It remains to be seen whether the court ruling will lead to change in
Japanese Government policy at the international level but the court's
recognition that the Ainu people embody important cultural values which the
Government should not deny will make it harder for the Government to ignore
their rights.
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This information comes from the Forest Peoples Programme,
1c Fosseway Business Centre, Stratford Road, Moreton-in-Marsh, GL56 9NQ,
England. Tel:01608 652893 Fax: +44 1608 652878 email:wrm@gn.apc.org
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Forest Peoples Programme
1c Fosseway Business Centre
Stratford Road, Moreton-in-Marsh
GL56 9NQ, England
email: wrm@gn.apc.org
tel: +44 (0)1608 652893 Fax: +44 (0)1608 652878
The Forest Peoples Programme is an affiliate of the World Rainforest Movement.