Japan engages in the most active human rights diplomacy in Asia. In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Japanese government accepted several thousand Ukrainian refugees into the country’s borders. Mention of the importance of human rights, democracy, the rule of law, and other liberal values has become a nearly constant presence in diplomatic papers and statements. Even a Japanese version of the Magnitsky Law, which would allow Japan to sanction parties deemed guilty of human rights abuses overseas, is being discussed in a parliamentary caucus reaching across political party lines. Such moves comprise a new trend within the post-Cold War order, growing particularly conspicuous upon entering the 21st century, signaling that Japanese human rights diplomacy is in a transitional period.
What particular route has Japan traveled to arrive at the current point in its human rights diplomacy, along with the nature of the themes emerging within this shift? This article analyzes the roles of human rights norms in the vicissitudes of Japan’s human rights diplomacy, focusing primarily on the status of human rights diplomacy being advanced at the United Nations (UN).
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