FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICAPRIL 2010 VOLUME 59

Focus
Asia-PacificNewsletter of the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center (HURIGHTS OSAKA)

September 2014 Vol. 77

Contents
A Human Rights Center in Osaka
This article presents the story that led to theestablishment of HURIGHTS OSAKA. It
discusses the inspiration that initiated the
movement to lobby the local governments
in Osaka to support the establishment ofsuch a human rights center. It also cites the
Asia-Pacific context in the 1990s that
supported the idea of establishing a
Japanese center that would promote humanrights in the region.
- Jefferson R. Plantilla
Page 2
Human Rights in the Mining Industry ofMongolia
This is an excerpt of the report included in
the book entitled Bridging Human Rights
Principles and Business Realities inNortheast Asia (2014). This article discusses
some of the highlights of the report on themining operations in Mongolia that affectthe human rights of workers and the people
in the surrounding areas.
- Centre for Human Rights andDevelopment
Page 6
Local Government and Human Rights
This is a report on the expert workshop on
human rights cities that was held in May
2014 in Gwangju. It summarizes thedifferent components of human rights cities
and the relevant experiences in this regard.
The article also cites the opportunities andchallenges facing local governments infunctioning as human rights cities.
- HURIGHTS OSAKA
Page 9
Mekong Workshop on EIU/GCE
This is a report on the first-ever workshop
held by APCEIU in Myanmar. The
subregional workshop, focused on
Education for International Understanding
and Global Citizenship Education, wasattended by educators from the Mekong
subregion (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam). The
article cites the significance of thesubregional workshop in relation to thechanging situation in Myanmar.
- HURIGHTS OSAKA
Page 13

Editorial

Human Rights Centers
The story behind the establishment of an institution largely
defines its vision, mission and goal. The story also reveals thecontext that supported the establishment of such institution.
The same must be true of the human rights centers in Asia andthe Pacific. There should be stories of people whose vision andcommitment to realize their vision led to the establishment of
human rights centers. There should be stories of human rights
violations that led people to see the need to have an institutionthat would promote human rights and address the violations.
Some institutions developed their human rights center function
after years of providing human rights protection services. Morerecently, others saw the viability of promoting human rights
solely through the current internet technology (website inparticular), a new facet in the work of human rights centers.
Among the human rights centers, there is the basic objective of
helping people understand human rights through presentations
on human rights principles, reports on human rights violations,and discussions on concrete efforts to counter them.

1

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFCSEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77

A Human Rights Center in Osaka
Jefferson R. PlantillaM

ore than thirty years ago, acall was made on Japan tosupport the promotion ofhuman rights in the Asia-Pacificregion in order to prepare theground for the proposed
establishment of a regional
human rights mechanism.
This call was made in 1983,
when the region had just started
discussing the United Nations(UN) proposal for a humanrights mechanism in the vastand highly diverse Asia-Pacificregion. It was made a year after
the first UN-organized regionalseminar on human rights washeld in Colombo that formally
discussed the proposal for theestablishment of a regional
human rights mechanism. The
response of the UN members t a t e s i n t h e r e g i o n wa s
lukewarm, justified by practicaldifficulties. Nevertheless, theUN proposal was a valid one,considering the need to address
the human rights situation in theregion at that time.
The governments and peoples
in the region were at that time
probably not yet ready for thiskind of mechanism. Regional
human rights promotion was
instead seen as an appropriate
step that should be undertaken.1
Local Institution
Yo Kubota, a United Nationso f fi c e r , c a l l e d f o r t h eestablishment of a “Human
Rights Information Center inAsia” that would help promote
human rights in the region.
While he was calling on Japan,
as a state, to take this challenge,
his proposal was taken up
instead by the local social
movement in Osaka where hespoke about this idea in 1983.
The local social movement
supported his idea of
establishing such a center on
the “strengths of the people andthe local governing bodies.” Theanti-discrimination movementin Osaka (principally consistingof the anti-Buraku
discrimination movement, theKorean residents movement andother groups) saw this proposal
as an appropriate project for the
local governments in Osaka.
A decade-long negotiation by
the local anti-discrimination
movement with the Osaka cityand prefectural governments led
to the establishment of a local
institution named Ajia Taiheiyou
Jinken Jouhou Senta (AsiaP a c i fi c H u m a n R i g h t s
Information Center) in thesummer of 1994. It wasestablished with the joint
financial support of the local
governments and the social
movements consisting of theanti-discrimination movement,a labor union, a religiousorganization, an organization ofprivate corporations, etc. The
Osaka city mayor, Osaka
prefecture governor, a senioradviser to the then newly
created Office of the UN HighCom mi ss io n e r f o r H u m a n2

Rights, and the widow of Yo
Kubota, who unfortunately
failed to see the fulfillment of
his idea due to his death while
on official mission in Africa,
attended the inauguration
ceremonies.2
The center, also known as
HURIGHTS OSAKA, wasestablished as a local institutionthat promoted human rights in
the Asia-Pacific region.
It should likewise be noted thatthe same social movement in
Osaka lobbied the Osaka cityand prefectural governments to
support the establishment of ahuman rights museum. The
lobby started in 1982 and themuseum was established three
years later, in 1985, and named
Osaka Human Rights Museum(popularly known as LIBERTYOSAKA) with support from the
Osaka local governments.3
Objectives
At the establishment of
HURIGHTS OSAKA in 1994,
the objectives were stated asfollows:
a. To promote human rights in
the Asia-Pacific region;b. To convey Asia-Pacificperspectives on humanrights to the international
community;c. To ensure inclusion ofhuman rights principles in
Ja p a n e s e i n t e r n a t i o n a lcooperation activities;

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
d. To ra i s e h u m a n r i g h t sawareness among the people
in Japan to meet its growinginternationalization.
These objectives gave
HURIGHTS OSAKA a uniquecharacter of being a local
institution with a regional (AsiaPa c i fi c ) p e r s p e c t ive . Th e yreflected a strong regional, orinternational, consciousness
among the people andinstitutions that worked for its
establishment.
In mid-1990s, the idea of ahuman rights center for AsiaPacific with support from local
governments and the local
social movement was ahead ofits time.
HURIGHTS OSAKA came into
existence a year after the 1993
World Conference on Human
Rights was held in Vienna; aconference that attracted muchattention from governments andthe non-governmentalorganizations in Asia and thePacific. This conference seemedt o h a v e i n fl u e n c e d t h eestablishment of national
human rights institutions inseveral countries in Asia either
before or after it was held, andhelped stoke alarming
discussion among governments
about an Asian version ofhuman rights. The Vienna
conference also caused the firstmassive mobilization of AsiaPa c i fi c n o n - g o v e r n m e n t a lorganizations working on
human rights during the
preparatory conference in
Bangkok in March 1993.
Regionally speaking,
HURIGHTS OSAKA wasestablished at the right time.
Human rights constituted an

SEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77
important concern that AsiaPacific governments could notignore in mid-1990s.
Tasks
A number of regional nongovernmental organizations
working on specific humanrights issues regarding women,children, workers, indigenous
peoples, and other vulnerable
sectors were already existingfrom early 1990s. National
human rights institutions werebeing established in a numberof Asian countries during thisperiod. And the United Nations
had started its regional
workshops on human rights.4
What then should HURIGHTSOSAKA do for the Asia-Pacificregion under this situation?
What kind of program should it
espouse that would respond to
the needs of the region?
Promotion of human rights wascertainly a task HURIGHTSOSAKA must perform. And to
pursue this task, HURIGHTSOSAKA was aided by theinternational initiatives onhuman rights promotion
particularly the United Nations
Decade for Human Rights
Education (1995-2004).
At the outset, HURIGHTSOSAKA adopted the following
activities:
a. Information Handling collection of basic
international human rights
documents; information onsocial, economic andcultural situations in the
Asia-Pacific; and materials
on human rights education;b. R e s e a r c h - s t u d y i ncollaboration with experts
in Japan and other countries

3in the region on a range ofissuessuchasmarginalization ofindigenous peoples,minorities, refugees,
migrant workers and othervulnerable groups;
discrimination based onsocial status; anddevelopment and humanrights;c. Education and Training setting up of human rights
education program forthose concerned withhuman rights issues in ther e g i o n . Th i s i n c l u d e s
education and training for
citizens and private andpublic corporations inJapan;
d. Publication - production ofmaterials either in English
or Japanese languages suchas newsletters, booklets,
journal, occasional papers,
annual activity reports,
audio-visuals, and otherresearch materials;
e. Consultancy - provision ofadvisory services on humanrights programs andresearch.
HURIGHTS OSAKA’s regional
activities had to contend withlimited financial and humanresources, however. HURIGHTSOSAKA could not launch a
program that could be
implemented over several years.
It had to search for projectfunds to start its regional
program. Its projects received
support from private fundingorganizations, national humanrights institutions andgovernment ministries in othercountries in Asia, and also from
United Nations agencies. As amatter of policy and procedure,
HURIGHTS OSAKA works in

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFC
partnership with nongovernmental organizations,
government agencies, national
human rights institutions, andalso international organizations
in order to address resource
limitation and to have greater
chances of achieving project
objectives.
Human Rights Center
HURIGHTS OSAKA is a humanr i g h t s c e n t e r. I t g a t h e r s ,processes and disseminates
human rights information ofvarious kinds and from different
sources. Despite limited
resources, HURIGHTS OSAKA
has been able to implement
several regional projects since
its establishment in 1994.
In support of the UN Decadefor Human Rights Education,
HURIGHTS OSAKA launched aregional human rights
e d u c a t i o n p r o g r a m . Th e
program started with a research
project on the culture-humanrights issue, the focus of debate
on the universality of humanrights in early 1990s. The
program continued with
consultation workshops,
development of human rights
teaching materials, training
workshops, more research
projects, collection of humanrights education materials, andpreparation of publications.5
The continued implementationof the regional program led tothe collection of information onhuman rights education (in theform of teaching and learningmaterials,
programimplementation reports, audiovisual materials, etc.) frominstitutions in various countries
i n A s i a a n d t h e Pa c i fi c .
HURIGHTS OSAKA also
implemented research projects

SEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77
on other issues including
development and human rights,
and business and human rights.
A major collection of
information in HURIGHTSOSAKA relate to human rights
education as a consequence of
its regional program. Other
information covers various
human rights issues and sectors
in Asia and the Pacific, court
decisions on human rights,
declarations on human rights,
and human rights centers.6
Promoting Human Rights
Centers
HURIGHTS OSAKA has been
conscious of the existence ofnumerous human rights
organizations in the region that
operate at national and regional
levels. HURIGHTS OSAKA has
been constantly seeking theircooperation in implementing
projects and in undertaking its
regular regional activities suchas preparation of publications(quarterly newsletter, annual
p u b l i c a t i o n a n d r e s e a r chreports).

address people’s needs such as
maintenance of library or
resource centers that offer
human rights materials to the
public, provision of humanrights education activities invarious educational forms andfor different types of audiences,monitoring of the human rights
situation (local, national andregional levels), and provisionof protection service for those
wh o s u f f e r h u m a n r i g h t sviolations.
It classifies these centers as nongovernmental organizations(NGOs), university-based
research and outreach centers,
and government-supported
institutions. Some centers are
based in local areas, away fromthe capital city, and thus
provide a very important
institutional resource for the
local people and groups.7

As a human rights center,
HURIGHTS OSAKA also
promotes the role of fellow
human rights centers in theregion. In 2001, it started
identifying institutions in theregion that have the humanrights center function (that is,gathering, processing anddisseminating information
related to human rights).

To be able to promote thehuman rights centers,
HURIGHTS OSAKA publishedin 2008 the Directory of AsiaPacific Human Rights Centerswith one hundred eighty one
centers. In 2013, the second
edition of the Directory was
published with two hundred
forty eight centers covered.
Many more human rights
centers were profiled fromCentral and West Asia in thesecond edition of the Directory,
showing the existence of such
centers in majority of thecountries in Asia and thePacific.

HURIGHTS OSAKA sees thevalue of making people in theregion appreciate the services
that human rights centers canprovide. The profile of thehuman rights centers reveals avariety of services that can

Human rights promotion in thevast Asia-Pacific region has tobe done at various levels by awide array of institutions suchas human rights centers,
national human rights
institutions, and government

4

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
agencies with human rights
programs. The UN agencies in
the region play very importantrole. The Social Development
Division of UNESCAP (United
Nations Economic, Social
Commission for Asia-Pacific),designated in 1988 as theregional human rights focal
point, was “encouraged” to act
as “depository centre of United
Nations human rights materials
within the Commission in
Bangkok, the function of which
include the collection,
processing and dissemination ofsuch materials in the Asian andPacific region.”8
HURIGHTS OSAKA advocatesthe appropriate functioning of,a n d s u p p o r t f o r, t h e s einstitutions in promoting humanrights in the region. They
constitute the majormechanisms for human rights
promotion that operate not onlyat the regional and national
levels but also at thecommunity level in somecountries.

SEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77
Pacific through collection
and dissemination of
information and materials
on human rights;
c. To promote human rights in
Asia-Pacific in cooperation
with national and regional
institutions as well as theUnited Nations.
While the promotion of humanrights in the Asia-Pacific region
remains a goal, the current
goals of HURIGHTS OSAKA
have distinct stress on
promoting human rights at the
local level. Perhaps, this is a
way of formalizing the actual
situation of HURIGHTS OSAKA
as a local institution whose
resources are largely devoted todomestic activities.

a. To e n g e n d e r p o p u l a r
understanding in Osaka of
the international humanrights standards;

During the first decade of its
existence, HURIGHTS OSAKA
relied much on “physicalfacilities” for visitors (such as
l i b r a r y, a u d i o - v i s u a lequipments, computers andalso a microfiche machine [forold UN documents]). But during
the second decade, it began torely more on “digital space”
using
its
website(www.hurights.or.jp) as a major
mode of information
dissemination. HURIGHTSOSAKA also maintains an em a i l l i s t s e r v, a n o n l i n emagazine, Facebook and Twitter
accounts that are used todisseminate information on
local issues and activities. The
e-mail listserv, online magazine,
Facebook (www.facebook.com/
hurightsosaka) and Twitter( h t t p s : / / t w i t t e r. c o m /hurights_osaka) accounts are in
Japanese language.

b. To support international
exchange between Osakaand countries in Asia-

The current domestic activities
of HURIGHTS OSAKA consistof seminars, “human rights

Two Decades
HURIGHTS OSAKA celebrates
its twentieth year of existence in
2014. It continues to pursue its
original goals although several
challenges surfaced during thel a s t fi v e y e a r s r e g a r d i n gresources and organizational
structure. Necessarily, it has
also redefined its goals. In
2012, HURIGHTS OSAKA
stated its goals as follows:

5

tours,” telephone and online
information service, andpublication. It will hold during
the last quarter of 2014 ahuman rights film festival,
poster exhibition, workshop on
human rights centers, and a
symposium on children tocelebrate its twenty years ofexistence.
Despite the challenges, theimplementation of the regional
program of HURIGHTS OSAKA
continues. HURIGHTS OSAKA
proceeds to seek partners in
different parts of the region for
its activities, and to search forrelevant information that canhelp promote human rights in
the region.
Jefferson R. Plantilla is the Chief
Researcher of HURIGHTSOSAKA.
For more information, pleasecontact HURIGHTS OSAKA.

Endnotes
1 See UN General Assembly
resolution 37/171 of 17
December 1982 on thereport of the Seminar on
National, Local and Regional
Arrangements for theProtection of Human Rights
in the Asian Region, held in
Colombo from 21 June to 2
July 1982.
2

3

See HURIGHTS OSAKA
Newsletter, volume 1, 28
February 1995 for the reportson the opening ceremonies
of HURIGHTS OSAKA heldon 7 December 1994.
Nobutoyo Kojima, “LIBERTYOSAKA: Promoting Human
Rights to All,” FOCUS AsiaP a c i fi c , v o l u m e 5 7 ,(Continued on page 15)

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICSEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77

Human Rights in the Mining Industry of Mongolia*
Centre for Human Rights and Development

The mining industry is a core
player in Mongoliandevelopment and economic
growth. It is flourishing, anddrawing attention from many
foreign investors. Yet it has beengetting more and more clearthat local and foreign mining
companies are practicing theso-called “Take the gold andleave the dirt” approach. In
other words, the mining
activities of both local andforeign companies aredamaging the environment, andviolating the human rights ofpeople in the mining areas.
Th e M i n e ra l R e s o u rc e s
Authority of Mongolia reported
that it issued 3,692 special
licenses in 2012 covering 22.3
million hectares of land.1 Theselicenses cover areas in different
provinces and soums (districts)of the country. In one case,eleven mining companies havelicense to mine on 1.1 million
hectares out of 2.8 million
hectares of the Gurvan Tes
Soum. The mining operations inthis soum would make herdingby local people difficult. Mining
operations have adverse impact
on the traditional agriculturala c t iv i t i e s o f a s i g n i fi c a n t
number of the population. The
mining operations affect herders
due to decreasing pasture area
and water resources. They arealso displaced due toresettlement in other areas.2 Thisis an example of unsystematic
granting of licenses.

Dust pollution caused by thetransportation of minerals fromthe mines is also causing
hardship on people and animals
along the roads used by big
mining trucks. Even in areas
where roads are paved, thelevel of dust pollution does not
go down due to the number oftrucks traversing them.
Air pollution in the form of dust
cloud is either forty five times
higher in the case of large
particle dust or thirty to thirtyfive times higher in the case ofsmall particle dust than thenational standard average. Thisis true in several soums.
The Ministry of Environment
and Tourism, on the other hand,
has reported earlier in 2010 that
17,966 hectares have been
destroyed by mining operations.
The National Human Rights
Commission of Mongolia
reported that mining companies
left unrehabilitated hundreds ofhectares of land in several
soums (46.7 hectares in AiragSoum, Dornogobi province;
562.6 hectares in Uyanga
soum, Uvurkhangai province;
500 hectares in Bayan-oo soum,
Bayangkhongor province).
Another report puts the figure at
more than six thousand
hectares.3
The mining industry, the major
pillar of the Mongolian
economy, is concentrating on
the Gobi region that has scarcewater resources. This means thatmining operations would have

6

major impact on the Gobi
ecological system, which inturn can lead to serious impact
on the health of people in thearea.
Northeast Asian Companies in
the Mining Industry
Northeast Asian companies arevery much involved in the
Mongolian mining industry
according to relevant
government records.
As of 2012, four hundred fifteen
foreign companies haveregistered in Mongolia to dobusiness pertaining to themining and oil industries. Of
this number, one hundred
seventy-nine are Chinese,
Korean and Japanese companies
as shown in the following data:• China – one hundred thirtynine companies (33.49
percent);• South Korea - thirty
companies (7.23 percent);and• Japan - ten companies (2.41
percent).

The analysis of various reports
about the mining operations of
the Northeast Asian companies
show violations of the mining
and other laws, including:a. Undertaking activities (suchas drilling holes, boringwater wells, mining) without
proper authorization;

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFC
b. Fa i l u r e t o s e c u r e a n drehabilitate abandoned
mining areas;c. Unauthorized construction ofrailway and exportation ofminerals;d. Securing an extension of
exploration license period
despite reports of serious
violations of terms of thelicense;e. Failure to comply with theregulations on safety ofworkers and protection of theenvironment;
f. Threat of dismissal of workers
who planned to form a tradeunion;
g. Failure to compensate familyof worker who died due towork-related accident; andh. Failure to raise the salary ofworkers.

Laws and Mining
The Mongolian Constitution
guarantees the right to “healthyand safe environment and to beprotected from environmental
pollution and ecologicalimbalance.” (Article 6). Further,
the Constitution provides theState responsibility on humanrights:1. T h e S t a t e s h a l l b e
responsible to the citizens
for the creation of
economic, social, legal andother guarantees for
ensuring human rights andfreedoms, to fight against
violation of human rights
and freedoms and to[remedy these violations].
(Article 19)
On the use of natural resources,
Article 6 of the Constitution
provides:SEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77
4. The State shall have theright to hold responsible theland owners in connection
with the manner the land isused, to exchange or take itover with compensation on
the grounds of special
public need, or confiscate
the land if it is used in amanner adverse to thehealth of the population,theinterestsofenvironmental protection
and national security.
5. The State may allow foreign
nationals, legal persons andstateless persons to leaseland for a specified periodof time under conditions
and procedures as provided
for by law.
Mongolian laws5 regulate themining industry with provisions
on granting and revocation ofmining licenses, exclusion ofareas from mining operations,
local government authority on
miningoperations,rehabilitation of areas that havebeen mined, and consultation
with local residents on theplanned mining operations.

Mongolia joined in 2006 theExtractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (EITI),
which has two main objectives:to disclose and reconcile
extractive industries revenues
p a i d t o a n d r e c e iv e d bygovernments (taxes, royalties,
and signature bonuses), and topromote and strengthen themulti-stakeholder dialogue
approach. In short, the process
requires companies to “publish
what they pay and governments
publish what they receive in an
EITI Report where the tax androyalty payments are
independently verified andreconciled.” This process is7

overseen by a multi-stakeholder
group of governments,
companies and civil society.6
By participating in EITI,
Mongolia addresses the“Paradox of Plenty” issue andendeavors to make the benefits
of extractive industries reach thepoorer sections of society.7 The
Mongolia EITI Mid-term
Strategy (2010-2014), adopted
on 24 June 2010, includes thefollowing provisions on
stakeholders in the extractive
industry:
Objectives of Mongolia EITI
capacity building:xxx xxx xxx
3. T o c o o p e r a t e w i t h
stakeholders and concerned
civil society representatives
on civil monitoring andpolicy influencing methods;
and
4. To continue collaboration
with other NGOs forcompany governance andresponsible mining.8

Mongolia published its latest
report in December 2013, theseventh reconciliation report.9
General Observations
An analysis of the problems that
arose from the operations ofmining companies in Mongolia
identified several root causes:
1. Laws are too general andweak to enhance public
participationinenvironmental decisionmaking, and to strengthen
the capacity and knowledgeof local communities toenable them to protect theirrights and interests;

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
2. Environmental laws are
dedicated only to protecting
plants or animals and do
not consider theindividual's right to land,safety and security;
3. The international mining
operations standards are not
implemented, while
domestic standards are poorand outdated. Mining
operations are commonly
allowed to start even before
the needed infrastructures
have been prepared;
4. Lack of policy on the use ofincome earned from themining industry to support
sustainable development,
reduce poverty and mitigate
risks after exhaustingl i m i t e d n o n - r e n e wa b l enatural resources;
5. Lack of regulations on
holding private companies
accountable for theenvironmental problems
and human rights abusescaused;6. Lack of regulations on
holding state organizations
and civil servantsaccountable for their illegal
activities by bringing themt o c o u r t , a n d l a ck o fenforcement of related
court decisions.

Legal Remedies
Civil society organizations havebeen handling most of the
public interest litigation cases in
Mongolia since 2000. Most of
the cases involved
environmental and humanrights abuses caused byirresponsible mining activities,
and the protection of humanrights of local nomadic

SEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77
c o m m u n i t i e s . Th e i s s u e saffecting nomadic communities
constitute the emerging humanrights issues in Mongolia.
H o w e v e r, c i v i l s o c i e t yorganizations have been facing
numerous challenges in taking
public interest cases in courts
including problems of locus
standi and court expenses, andlack of expertise in discussing
scientific aspects of the issues
involved (particularly inenvironmental cases).
Concluding Notes
As shown by past initiatives, it isobvious that the country hasrealized the need to develop
and implement responsible
mining and to protect theenvironment from the adverse
effects of mining operations.
However, the public lacks
participation in monitoring theimplementation of relevant
policies and regulations. More
importantly, there is a lack of
accountability mechanism forthose who are violating thelaws.

human rights center based inU l a a n b a a t a r, h a s b e e n
supporting communities thatwere adversely affected by themining operations in Mongolia.
For further information, pleasecontact: Centre for Human
Rights and Development(CHRD), Building of "Ok"centre, Youth avenue 13, 8thkhoroo, Sukhbaatar district,Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Postal
address: Central post office Box551, Ulaanbaatar-211213; ph(976-11)325721;www.chrd.org.mn.

Endnotes∗ This is an edited excerpt of thereport with the same author andtitle in Bridging Human Rights
Principles and Business Realities
i n N o r t h e a s t A s i a ( Ku a l a
Lumpur/Osaka: HURIGHTSOSAKA and SIRD, 2014).

1 Byambadorj Jamsran, Mining
Sector Development and Human Rights in Mongolia, paperdelivered at the International
Conference on “Mining andHuman Rights,” 10-11 October
2012 in Ulaanbaatar and organized by the National Human
Rights Commission of Mongolia, page 2. Paper available atwww.mn-nhrc.org/eng/main3/1
20/.
2 Jamsran, page, 7; Bayarsaikhan
Namsrai, Cultural and Economic Rights of Herders as Related to Mining, 2012, paperdelivered at the International
Conference on “Mining andHuman Rights,” page 3. Paper
available
atwww.mn-nhrc.org/eng/main3/1
20/48-report.html.
3 Namsrai, ibid., page 2.
4 Appendix-1, Invest Mongolia
A g e n c y, o f fi c i a l l e t t e r information, 20 June 2013.
5 The text of the Minerals Law ofMongolia used in this report isfrom “Minerals Law,” Mongolian Mining Journal,

The Centre for Human Rights
and Development (CHRD), a(Continued on page 15)

In this context, there is morework to do to address thedamage to the environment
caused by mining operations,and their (mining operations)adverse impact on the health,safety and livelihood of people
in mining areas.

8

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICSEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77

Local Government and Human Rights
HURIGHTS OSAKA

L

ocal governments are key
players in the promotion,
protection and realization ofhuman rights. They complement
the work of the national
government in fulfilling state
obligation on human rights. But
how far have the local
governments been able do their
human rights work?
An expert workshop, hosted by
Gwangju city on 15 May 2014,p r ov i d e d a n sw e r s t o t h i squestion by taking stock ofexisting local government
human rights practices indifferent parts of the world, andidentifying emerging trends andchallenges in this field. This
workshop was held prior to the
4th World Human Rights Cities
Forum (WHRCF).
Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human
Rights Council adopted aresolution (A/HRC/RES/24/2) on
26 September 2013 requesting
the Human Rights Council
Advisory Committee (HRCAC)
to prepare “a research-based
report on the role of local
government in the promotion
and protection of human rights,
including human rights
mainstreaming in local
administration and public
services, with a view tocompiling best practices andmain challenges.”1 This report
would be presented to the
Human Rights Council at its
twenty-seventh session in

September 2014. Two membersof the HRCAC drafting groupattended the Gwangju
workshop.
Role of Local Governments
Since local governments
provide direct service to thec o m m u n i t y, a n d l o c a lgovernment leaders have directcontact with the local
population, they are in the best
position to work on local
human rights issues.
Local governments that upholdhuman rights can actively
protect the rights of local
residents. The local residents inturn can exercise their right todemand from their local
governments support for their
human rights. There are services
that local governments canprovide to the local communitythat the national government
may not be able to supply.
However, the human rights
programs of local governments
should not dilute the obligationof the national government topromote, protect and realize
human rights. Local andnational governments shouldcollaborate on human rights
work.
A recent survey by the Human
Rights Council reveals a
number of challenges affecting
the human rights work of local
governments pertaining to:a. Direct democracy at the
local levels;

9b. Cultural practices that
affect human rights;
c. Mainstreaming of humanrights principles into thedifferent components of thelocal government
structures and procedures;
andd. Human rights education for
local government officials
and local population.
The Gwangju workshop took
note of other serious challenges
f a c i n g l o c a l g ove r n m e n t s
regarding:a. C h a n g e i n p o l i t i c a lleadership;
b. C o n t i n u a t i o n o f l o c a lgovernment human rights
initiatives;c. Development of existing
local government humanrights programs;
d. L i n k b e t w e e n l o c a lgovernments and theregional/international
programs; ande. Human rights protection.
Some local governments were
found to have strong sense ofa u t o n o m y, p r o g r e s s i v eleadership, support from local
social movements and otherattributes that facilitate themainstreaming of human rights
principles in the local
governance system. Historical
local movements fighting for
freedom and human rights canalso inspire local governmentsin their human rights work. The

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFC
Donghak Revolution in 1894 in
Gwangju was cited as an
example of such inspiring
historical event.
Establishing a Human Rights
City
Today’s cities face a number ofproblems that impact on humanrights. They face social andeconomic inequality among theresidents, inadequate facilities
to serve their needs, limited
space for housing and otherinfrastructures, isolation or
exclusion of specific groups ofresidents including foreign
residents (permanent residents
and also migrant workers,
asylum seekers, refugees, etc.),lack of participation of noncitizens in the governance ofthe city, discrimination invarious forms, etc.
In this context, the mainquestion is: How can a city
become a human rights city?
Or, how can a local government
be able to perform its obligation
to promote, protect and realize
human rights within its own
territory and using its limited
resources?
There should be appropriate
utilization of existing
opportunities that support the
local government work on
human rights. Superior court
decisions that recognize thehuman rights mandate of local
governments especially inmeeting the essential needs ofthe local residents (such as
food, housing, water supply,
health service, sanitation,
protection from violence)
should be given importance.
Local government autonomy
l aw s t h a t e m p ow e r l o c a lgovernments to enact

SEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77
ordinances such as budget
ordinance supporting gender
programs at the local levelshould be invoked effectively.
National action plans on
different human rights issues
should be utilized to benefit
local communities.
Institutions that work on humanrights such as national humanrights institutions, local humanrights centers (including those
based in local universities),l o c a l o f fi c e s o f n a t i o n a lgovernment agencies and nongovernmental organizations
should all be tapped for local
level human rights
programming.
Local governments can actively
seek out people whose humanrights are being violated or on
the verge of getting violated inorder to give them protection
and other support. This effort
makes the existence of local
institutions or local programsfor the underprivileged or
discriminated people more
relevant and needed.
They can also develop or use
existing systems for rating
performance on human rights
work. Such rating system would
supporteffective
implementation of local
government action plans onhuman rights.
On raising human rights
awareness of the general public,
human rights activities shouldbe held in open, public spaces
where ordinary residents canlearn as well as contribute in
the discussions of local humanrights issues and programs.
Local government experienceson human rights work can befound in Kaohsiung city that10

created a human rights
information center inside a busy
train station to provide
information on human rights
and hold discussion activities
on human rights issues for thegeneral public; 2 establishednumerous museums withrelated human rights themes;
and supported human rights
education in the school system.
In a small town in thePhilippines, the lady mayor
promotes the idea that local
residents have the right todemand service from their local
government, and implements
programs addressing different
aspects of human rights (using
the 1986 United Nations
Declaration on the Right toDevelopment as framework). In
Utrecht (the Netherlands), thelocal government brought
together representatives ofdifferent non-governmentalorganizations that work on
human rights issues in Africa
and Asia to discuss what could
be done on local human rights
problems. The variety of ideasthat came out provided a goodstart to developing local humanrights programs for the city. The
city government of Nanterre(France) developed a program
to address the needs of those in
the “peripheries” (physicallyand socially) of the city, who
are mainly descendants offoreign migrant workers.3
Korean Template
Th e Ko r e a H u m a n R i g h t sFoundation (KHRF), one of theco-organizers of the expert
workshop, presented the current
situation of human rights cities
in Korea through a draft white
paper entitled Human Rights
Cities in Korea 2014.

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICSEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77
Table 1. Components of Human Rights Cities4

Category

Norm

PolicyComponent

Local government example

Charter

Gwangju Human Rights Charter (2012)

Ordinance

Busan Haeundae-gu Ordinance (2010)

OthersGyeongsangnam-do Jingju cityʼs Declaration of Human
Rights City (2005)

Human Rights Action Plan

Ulsan Dong-gu Human Rights Plan of Action (2013-2015)

Human Rights Impact Assessment

Human Rights Impact Assessment in construction of government buildings (2012) in Seoul Seongbuk-gu

Human Rights Index/
Indicator

Gwangju Human Rights Indicator (2012)

Human Rights Education

Permanent lecture program on human rights in Gwangju

Human Rights OfficeGwangju Human Rights Division (2010), Seoul Human
Rights Division (2012)

Human Rights Commission

Ulsan Dong-gu Human Rights Commission (2012)

Human Rights Ombudsman

Gwangju Human Rights Ombudsman (2013), Seoul Citizenʼs
Human Rights Ombudsman (2013)

Human Rights Center

Gyeonggi-do Gwangmyeong City Citizensʼ Human Rights
CenterInstitution

The paper provides a good
template for compiling andanalyzing information on local
government initiatives related tohuman rights. It presents thedifferent initiatives of Korean
local governments as shown in
Table 1.
According to the KHRF report, ahuman rights charter“articulates the rights that a
local government guarantees[to] its citizens;”5 a humanrights ordinance is a law or
regulation enacted by local
g ove r n m e n t c o u n c i l s t h a t
specifically relate to humanrights;6 a human rights
declaration “elucidates a city’scommitment toward
establishing itself as a humanrights city to the city’s residents
as well as to the … world.”7
A human rights action plan is a“comprehensive plan that[translates] the human rights
charter or statement into policy
to promote human rights;” a“blueprint that gives guidance
to the local government … [in]developing systematic humanrights policy.”8 Human Rights
Impact Assessment is a “toolthat allows the local
government [to] monitor theplans and actions … to protect
and improve the human rightsof the residents.” 9 Human

11

Rights Index/Indicator means “asign that displays the direction,goal, or standard of humanr i g h t s . . . [ s p e c i fi c a l l y ] t h egeneral numerical value of thevarious human rights
situations.”
The human rights office has the
responsibility over all activitiesof the local government related
to human rights. The name ofthe office includes “humanrights” and thus can refer to
Human Rights Division, Human
Rights Policy Division, Human
Rights Team, etc.10 The humanrights center, on the other hand,promotes human rights culture
and citizen participation inFOCUS ASIA-PACIFC
local communities by providing
human rights education for
citizens and civil servants. Local
government officials manage
the human rights office, whilet h e c iv i l s o c i e t y ( t h o u g hreceiving support from the local
g ove r n m e n t ) o p e ra t e s t h ehuman rights center.11
Th e l o c a l h u m a n r i g h t scommission serves as a“mechanism through which
active participation of citizens
in realizing the ideal of ahuman rights city could beguaranteed…[It monitors] fromthe outside whether [or not the
local government is properly
implementing the] human rights
charters and declarations, andin some cases, serve[s] as relief[body] when [the local
government or related
institution breaches] establishednorms or violate the humanrights of its citizens.”12 The
human rights ombudsman, on
the other hand, has the sole
purpose of providing relief orremedy to victims of humanrights violations.

SEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77
Mainstreaming Human Rights
in Local Governance
A major task in themainstreaming of human rights
into the local government
system is the institutionalizationo f p o l i c i e s , m e ch a n i s m s ,programs and activities thatserve to promote, protect andrealize human rights in the local
communities.
Such mainstreaming effort
should be supported by aparticipatory process that allows
effective involvement of local
residents in the task, provisionof sufficient financial and otherresources, awareness-raisingamong the public and the local
g ove r n m e n t o f fi c i a l s , a n dcollaboration with otherinstitutions working on humanrights and local government
fields.
For further information, pleasecontact the Korean Human
Rights Foundation, 4F, 18-1,
Dongsomoonro, Seongbuk-Gu,
Seoul, South Korea; ph: (82070) 4367 2787; fax: (82 0505)
115-3682;
e-mail:alee7080@gmail.com;
www.humanrights.or.kr.

12

Endnotes
1 Report of the Human Rights
Council on its twenty-fourth
session, advanced unedited
version, A/HRC/24/2, 27
January 2014, page 8.
2 For additional information,
read Elsa Wen-Ying Hsu,
“Crossing Boundaries in an
Educating City: A Case Studyof City Human Rights
Education at the Open
University of Kaohsiung,”
Human Rights Education in
Asia-Pacific, volume four
(Osaka: HURIGHTS OSAKA)
pages 125-136. Full article
available
atwww.hurights.or.jp/archives/
asia-pacific/.
3 Th e s e e x p e r i e n c e s w e r epresented in one of theworkshops held during the2014 World Forum on Human
Rights Cities.
4 Data in Table 1 are from
Korean Human Rights
Foundation, Human Rights
Cities in Korea 2014 (Seoul,2014), pages 6-7.
5 Ibid., page 8.
6 Ibid., page 9.
7 Ibid., page 10.
8 Ibid., page 16.
9 Ibid., page 18.
10 Ibid., page 11.
11 Ibid., page 15. The word
citizens would probably mean
“residents” to include noncitizens such as foreigners.
12 Ibid., pages 12-13.

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICSEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77

Mekong Workshop on EIU/GCE
HURIGHTS OSAKA

At the behest of the Director
General of UNESCO (Irina
Bokova), 1 the Asia-PacificCentre of Education forInternational Understanding(APCEIU) started an educational
i n i t i a t iv e i n M ya n m a r i n
mid-2014. APCEIU held its firstactivity in the country incollaboration with the
Myanmarese government byholding a workshop for the
Mekong subregion on 17 - 19
J u n e 2 0 1 4 i n Ya n g o n . A
wo r k s h o p e x c l u s ive l y f o r
Myanmarese educators
followed the Mekong
subregional workshop.
The sub-regional workshop, coorganized with the UNESCO
Asia and Pacific Regional
Bureau for Education (UNESCO
Bangkok), had the theme, “EIU:
Global Citizenship Education
for a Culture of Peace andS u s t a i n a b i l i t y,” a n d w a s
attended by thirty educatorsfrom Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam.

mandated institution of
UNESCO, it has been working
with the Ministries of Educationand other educational
institutions in the Asia-Pacific.
Teachers, education and school
officials and other educatorsfrom the region haveparticipated in its activities.2 Its
current Director (Utak Chung)hopes that APCEIU will also
become a regional hub for
Global Citizenship Education(GCE).
Subregional Workshop
The holding of a subregional
workshop on EIU and GCE in
Yangon is significant in light of
the recent politicaldevelopments in Myanmar.
P r o f e s s o r Au n g Tu n Th e t ,Advisor to the President of the
Republic of the Union of
Myanmar, talked about reengagement and recommitment
to the global community in his
welcome remarks. He also

APCEIUAs the leading advocate of
Education for International
Understanding (EIU) in AsiaPacific since 2000, APCEIU has
been tirelessly holding
wo r k s h o p s , s e m i n a r s a n dteacher exchanges; publishingvarious materials including
monographs on best practices
on EIU; and undertaking
research projects. As a13

mentioned ethnic, political andreligious tensions that should be
resolved through dialogue withthe government.
In relation to GCE he answereda number of questions:a. What are the traits of a good
global citizen?
• Good character andfairness;• R e s p o n s i b i l i t y,trustworthiness, care andrespect for others, thecapacity to tolerate andutilize critical thinking.
b. What do we want out of a
global citizen?
• Tolerance;• The ability to work together
and embrace diversity;• Responsibility for ouractions;• Critical thinking towards
actions to promote peace
and tolerance.
He emphasized the need tothink globally and act locally.

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFC
Human Rights as a ThemeThe opening ceremonies of thesubregional workshop included
a keynote speech by U Win
Mra, the Chairperson of
Myanmar National Human
Rights Commission (MNHRC).
In the speech, he stressed therole of education as the mosteffective means to understandand respect human rights. He
emphasized that educationmust not only facilitate
acquisition of knowledge onhuman rights. He raised theneed for teachers to be trainedand empowered.
He elaborated on the role of the
MNHRC in providing a windowof opportunity for people toenjoy human rights by being amechanism for resolving
conflicts and by facilitating
human rights education.
He explained that the MNHRC
did its own translation of the
Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and disseminatedcopies of it to many educational
institutions. It held workshops
on various issues such as
business and human rights,

SEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77
human rights and the role of themedia, Universal Periodic
Review of the United Nations
Human Rights Council, and theinternational human rights
instruments. It has held training
workshops for its staff on theConvention on the Rights of theChild, the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women,
and the Convention on the
R i g h t s o f Pe r s o n s w i t hDisabilities. It also held humanrights education activities inthirty-seven townships oninternational human rights
norms and standards.
The MNHRC has reached out tothe religious leaders in the
country. It has linked up withnational human rights
institutions in Southeast Asia
through the Southeast Asia
National Human Rights
Institutions Forum (SEANF) andthose in the whole region
through the Asia-Pacific Forumof National Human Rights
Institutions (APF). Chairperson
Wra saw these linkages asimportant means to share andlearn experiences in making the
MNHRC work effectively.

Chairperson Wra alsomentioned the necessity of
having a law on theestablishment of MNHRC. He
expressed hope that such law
would be enacted soon.
Th e k e y n o t e s p e e ch o f
Chairperson Wra put animportant stress on humanrights in the whole subregional
workshop.
The workshop program had aslot for the discussion of humanrights. A resource person3 gavea presentation on the
background of the international
human rights standards andexplained the basic humanrights principles by linking themto values.
The stress on the link between
human rights and values echoed
the welcome remarks of therepresentative of the
Myanmarese government on theneed for citizens to have values.
It also related to the school
syllabus in Singapore on
discussing EIU by emphasizing
certain values that are includedin the school curriculum suchas in social studies subject.
The subregional workshop
opened another opportunity foreducators in the Mekong
subregion to network with eachother in promoting EIU and
GCE. The participants expressed
their desire during theworkshop to be involved in
relevant projects being plannedby their respective institutions.

For further information, pleasecontact: APCEIU, 20, Saemalro, Guro-gu, Seoul, Republic ofKorea (152-050); ph (82-2)

14

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
774-3933; fax (82-2) 774-3958;
www.unescoapceiu.org.
Endnotes
1 See “Sub-regional Workshop on
EIU/GCE for Educators from
Mekong Cluster Countries &National Capacity-building
Workshop for Educators in

SEPTEMBER 2014 VOLUME 77
Myanmar,” APCEIU News,
www.unescoapceiu.org/board/b b s / b o a r d . p h p ?
bo_table=m31&wr_id=430&pa
ge=3.
2 For more information about
APCEIU
visit
www.unescoapceiu.org.
3 The presentation on humanrights was given by Jefferson R.
Plantilla of HURIGHTS OSAKA.

Human Rights Center in Osaka(Continued from page 5)54

September 2009, full text
available
atwww.hurights.or.jp/archives/
focus/section2/2009/09/
liberty-osaka-promotinghuman-rights-to-all.html.
See “UN Workshops on
Regional Arrangement for
Human Rights in the AsiaPacific,” FOCUS Asia-Pacific,
volume 7, March 1977 for areportontheintergovernmental workshop
on human rights. This article
isavailable
atwww.hurights.or.jp/archives/
focus/section2/1997/03/unworkshops-on-regional-

Mining Industry of Mongolia(Continued from page 8)

http://en.mongolianminingjournal.com/content/38041.shtml.
6 Background, Mongolia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
Secretariat,
http://english.eitimongolia.mn/p
age/334.shtml?sel=607.
7 Paradox of Plenty is explained
as follows: “Historically, several
resource-rich developing countries have shown below-average

6

a r ra n g e m e n t - f o r- h u m a n rights-in-the-asiapacific.html.
See Jefferson R. Plantilla,“Regional Programming on
Human Rights Education,”
Human Rights Education in
Asia-Pacific, volume 4, pages
195-250, for more
information on the regional
human rights education
program. The article isavailable
atwww.hurights.or.jp/archives/a s i a - p a c i fi c /section1/2013/12/volumefour.html.
The major categories of thecontent of the English sectionof the HURIGHTS OSAKA
website reflect the kind ofwork and information beingsought and disseminatedgrowth performance and theircitizens live in persistent poverty due to a lack of transparency and corruption caused byweak governance.” See World
Bank, Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative: Results
P r o fi l e , 1 5 A p r i l 2 0 1 3 ,www.worldbank.org/en/results/
2013/04/15/extractive-industries-transparency-initiative-results-p
rofile.
8 Restatement of 10.6. Objective"Mongolia EITI capacity buildup" in the Mongolia EITI midterm strategy (2010-2014),

15

7

8

under the regional program.
See www.hurights.or.jp/
english/ for more details.
For more information on thehuman rights centers visit:
Directory of Human Rights
Centers in the Asia-Pacific,
www.hurights.or.jp/english/
directory-of-hr-centers.html;
and its wiki version: http://
hurights.pbworks.com/w/
page/11947500/FrontPage.
Regional arrangements forthe promotion of humanrights in the Asian and Pacificregion, UN General
Assembly, A/C.3/43/L.63, 22
November 1988, page 2.

http://english.eitimongolia.mn/c
ontent/639.shtml.
9 See Stephens and Van Audit, op.
cit.
10 This is an edited version ofNamsrai’s list of root causes ofhuman rights violations/abusesin the Mongolian mining industry, page 7.

HURIGHTS OSAKA Calendar
We mourn the passing of the first Director of HURIGHTS OSAKA, Professor Kim Dong-hoon. He was
the Director of HURIGHTS OSAKA from 1994 till 2000. After retiring from his teaching post in Japan,
he spent much of his time in Korea. He died in Korea on 31 May 2014.

DE
AU
OSAKA

ST
PO

BUR
E

A special memorial service for the late Professor Kim was held on 26 September 2014 in Osaka citywith the attendance of people he worked with in the international human rights law academic circle
and in the anti-discrimination movement in Japan.

JAPON

TAXE PERCUEPRINTED MATTERAIR MAIL

May be opened for inspection by the postal service.

HURIGHTS OSAKA, inspired by the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, formally opened in December 1994. lt has the following goals: 1) to promote human rights
in the Asia- Pacific region; 2) to convey Asia-Pacific perspectives on human rights to the international
community; 3) to ensure inclusion of human rights principles in Japanese international cooperative activities; and 4) to raise human rights awareness among the people in Japan in meeting its growing internationalization. In order to achieve these goals, HURIGHTS OSAKA has activities such as Information Handling, Research and Study, Education and Training, Publications, and Consultancy Services.
FOCUS Asia-Pacific is designed to highlight significant issues and activities relating to human rights in
the Asia-Pacific. Relevant information and articles can be sent to HURIGHTS OSAKA for inclusion in thenext editions of the newsletter.
FOCUS Asia-Pacific is edited by Osamu Shiraishi, Director of HURIGHTS OSAKA.
Sender: HURIGHTS OSAKA(Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center)
8F, CE Nishihonmachi Bldg., 1-7-7 Nishihonmachi, Nishi-ku, Osaka 550-0005
Japan
Phone: (816) 6543-7002
Fax: (816) 6543-7004
E-mail: webmail@hurights.or.jp Website: http://www.hurights.or.jp

HURIGHTS OSAKA