A/HRC/27/NGO/X

United Nations

General AssemblyDistr.: GeneralXX August 2014
English only

Human Rights Council
Twenty-seventh session
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including theright to development

Written statement* submitted by Human Rights Now, a nongovernmental organization in special consultative status
The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated inaccordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.
[25 August 2014]*GE.14-This written statement is issued, unedited, in the language(s) received from the submitting
non-governmental organization(s).

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Human Rights Situation of people affected by the Fukushima
nuclear disaster
1. It has already been three years since the nuclear accident at the Fukushima-Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station on
11 March 20111.The accident caused the release of a massive amount of radiation, initially estimated to be 168
times the level of that released by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The accident has not yet been resolved andradioactive waste continues to leak. One grave concern is the huge amount of contaminated water continuously
leaking into the ocean that no one knows how to stop. This contamination poses serious risks to the health of thepopulation, in particular pregnant women, babies, children and younger generations most vulnerable to harm fromradiation. Thus far, the government’s response is insufficient to protect people’s right to life, right to health, andreproductive health.
In the second round of the Universal Periodic Review of the national report, the UN Human Rights Council
adopted recommendations suggested by the Austrian government in March 2013 that the Japanese government
should “[t]ake all necessary measures to protect the right to health and life of residents living in the area of
Fukushima from radioactive hazards”2. Additionally, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to theenjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Mr. Anand Grover, recommended in
his May 2013 report that the Japanese government had a human rights obligation to take comprehensive measures
to prevent nuclear-related health risks from affecting the community3. Moreover, the UN Human Rights
Committee (hereinafter “Committee”), in the latest ICCPR review on Japan, expressed its grave concern overviolations of the human rights of the affected people and made specific recommendations to the government.
Regrettably, the Japanese government has ignored all of these recommendations.
2. First, the Japanese authorities have taken inadequate measures to protect the affected population’s right to lifeand rights to health. Many people, including children and pregnant women, still live in areas highly contaminatedby radioactive substances that continue to be released from the destroyed power plant. They continued to do so
because the government drew the boundary of the evacuation zones based on an exposure level of 20mSv/year peryear4, a threshold 20 times higher than international protection standards. Concerning these boundaries, Mr.
Anand Grover recommended that the Japanese government “formulate a national plan on evacuation zones anddose limits of radiation by using current scientific evidence, based on human rights rather than on a risk-benefit
analysis, and reduce the radiation dose to less than 1 mSv/year” 5. Furthermore, the Committee, in its 6th periodic
review on Japan in July 2014, recommended that “The State party should take all the necessary measures toprotect the life of the people affected by the nuclear disaster in Fukushima and lift the designation of contaminatedlocations as evacuation areas only where the radiation level does not place the residents at risk”6.
Alarmingly, however, the government has decided to un-designate some of the evacuation areas (within a 20km
ring of the disaster site) based on its own standard. Although residents believe that it is still to early to return tothe area, the first of such un-designations is one region of Tamura City in Fukushima prefecture, which will also
see compensation from TEPCO terminated at the end of March 2015. Most recently in August 2014, despite
hearing the conclusions of the Committee and without consulting the affected community, the government
announced the un-designation of evacuation areas in Kawauchi City, a highly contaminated area in Fukushima,

1

Human Rights Now is an international human rights NGO based in Tokyo, Japan <http://hrn.or.jp/eng>
Human Rights Council, A/HRC/22/14/Add.1, para. 147.155
3
A/HRC/23/41/Add.3
4
Although the government considers exposure below 100mSv/year to be safe, it decided to use a 20mSv/year standard in setting theevacuation zone. 20mSv/year is still much higher than internationally accepted standards, however.
5
A/HRC/23/41/Add.3., para.78(a)6
http://www.ccprcentre.org/doc/2014/07/CCPR_C_JPN_CO_6_17701_E.doc
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from the 1st of October. Despite strong opposition expressed by the community, the government has not yetchanged its policy on the matter.
The health examination services provided by the government have also been inaccurate and insufficient. For
instance, the thyroid examinations extend only to those under 18, and the follow-up tests are limited to once every
two years despite the fact that, during the course of the existing survey, 104 cases of thyroid cancer wereidentified or suspected7. Outside of thyroid examinations, the government has not conducted any healthmonitoring for people living in the affected area (such as blood or urine sampling, dental exams, ophthalmologicalexams, etc.) nor kept any record of illnesses other than thyroid cancer. In his report, Mr. Anand Grover urged theJapanese government to monitor “the impact of radiation on the health of affected persons through holistic andcomprehensive screening for a considerable length of time and make appropriate treatment available to those inneed”8 emphasizing that “health monitoring should be provided to persons residing in all affected areas withradiation exposure higher than 1 mSv/year”.9 However, none of these recommendations have been implemented
thus far.
3. Furthermore, the Japanese government has failed to protect rights to access accurate information. The day after
the Fukushima nuclear accident, about 170,000 residents living in the vicinity of the nuclear plant were evacuated
without being given detailed information on radioactive discharge. Such information should have been provided
by the Network System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI NetworkSystem)10. It was only two months after the disaster when the data became available, implying that it was not usedin designing the evacuation zone or the initial evacuation.
Since then, the Japanese government and TEPCO have failed to disclose all relevant and reliable information,including the level of contamination in residential areas, the current status of the Fukushima nuclear plant, thelevel of daily emissions of contaminated materials from the plant, and the exact magnitude of contaminated waterleakage to the ocean in a timely manner. Concerning this matter in its latest concluding observation, theCommittee recommended Japan to do as follows, “The State party should monitor the levels of radiation anddisclose this information to the people affected in a timely manner.” This recommendation is in addition to theconcluding observations of the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) given in the second
periodic report of Japan concerning the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake disaster11 recommending “increasedtransparency and disclosure to the public of all necessary information on issues relating to the safety of nuclear
power installations.” and urging Japan “to step up its preparation of plans for the prevention of, and early reaction
to, nuclear accidents".12 However, the government has either failed to implement these recommendations or has
made no moves to change its current policy until now. The government has failed to ensure minimum
accountability for the sake of those affected, all Japanese citizens, and the international community as a whole.
4. Another concern is that people’s rights to participation are not being ensured. Mr. Anand Grover once urged thegovernment “to ensure effective community participation, especially participation of vulnerable groups, in all
aspects of the decision-making processes related to nuclear energy policy and the nuclear regulatory framework,
including decisions regarding nuclear power plant operations, evacuation zones, radiation limits, healthmonitoring and compensation amounts.” However, the government has not implemented these recommendations.
7

http://www.pref.fukushima.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/80430.pdf
A/HRC/23/41/Add.3., para.77(a)9A/HRC/23/41/Add.3., para.77(b)10
The SPEEDI Network System is operated by the Nuclear Safety Technology Center, which is one of the extragovernmental organizations of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), incooperation with the relevant governmental agencies such as the MEXT and local authorities
11
The Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake occurred on January 17, 1995. Its epicenter was roughly 20km outside of Kobe, and it resulted inan estimated 6,434 deaths as well as ten trillion yen (~$100bn) in damage.
12The Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, “Consideration Of Reports Submitted By States Parties Under Articles 16
And 17 Of The Covenant : Concluding Observations Of The Committee On Economic, Social And Cultural Rights”, E/C. 12/1/1 Add.
67, para. 22.
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In July 2014 the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) made a decision to authorize the reactivation of one nuclear
power plant in the Kyushu area despite many concerns over the plant’s effects on the surrounding environment aswell as its technical capacity for preventing an atrocity similar to Fukushima. Public comments were collected
regarding the NRA decision, amounting to around 17,000 letters in just 30 days. In May, merely two months
before its decision, one Japanese court issued an injunction preventing the reactivation of a different nuclear
power plant in light of the lack of safeguards to prevent a reoccurrence of the Fukushima disaster, the most serious
human rights violation and environmental disaster in the history of Japan. Despite the growing protest movements
by civil groups, neither the government nor the NRA has incorporated the voices from the public or the court in its
decision concerning the reactivation of nuclear plants in Japan.
5. Hence, HRN urges the Japanese government to reform all relevant policies based on Mr. Grover’s
recommendations and the latest recommendations made by the Committee. All policies must be formulated with avictims-based/rights-based approach. The government must prioritize protection of the most vulnerable
populations, with due consideration of the health risks of low-level radiation exposure. In particular, applying theradiation dose threshold of 1mSv/year in national plans concerning evacuation zones, health policy, and in allmeasures providing for those affected should be accorded utmost importance.
HRN also requests that the international community take serious lessons from Fukushima disaster. Once a nuclear
accident happens, it severely affects the enjoyment of the most fundamental of human rights such as rights to life,
rights to health and reproductive health, rights to land, rights to safe drinking water, rights to information, andrights to a safe environment. The Fukushima disaster teaches us that the recovery from such a loss of human rights
will take decades. The international community must know that nuclear energy is neither sustainable nor safe.
This lesson must be incorporated in setting goals for post-2015 development.

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