• February 18(Monday), 2013
• February 19(Tuesday), 2013

Date and Time:February 18(Monday),2013   10:00-17:00

Venue:Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France

programe

time	content	title	reporter	papers	Power Point	sound
10:00 | 11:00	Opening session		Honorary Chair: Mr. Jean-Paul COSTA President of the International Institute for human rights Former President of European Court of human rights
		Opening by	Prof. ICHIHASHI Katsuya, Nagoya University
		Remarks by	Mr. HASEGAWA Susumu, Consul-General of Japan in Strasbourg
			Mr. Jörg POLAKIEWICZ, Head of the Human Rights Policy an Development, Council of Europe
11:00 | 12:10	Introductory Speeches		Moderator: Prof. Koji TONAMI, Waseda University
		Perspectives for Convergence of the Concepts of Human Rights Protection in Europe and Japan: A View from their Historical Contexts	Prof. Kaoru OBATA, Nagoya University
		Reconciling universality of human rights, differing national cultures and democracy at local level – the lessons Japan might learn from the European experience.	Mr. Judge Paul MAHONEY, European Court of Human Rights
		Question and answer
13:50 | 15:00	1st session		Moderator: Prof. Yasuzo KITAMURA, Chuo University
		Le droit au respect de la dignité et le droit de la personnalité dans la Constitution japonaise : Qu´est ce que le noyau dur de la personnalité ?	Prof. Hiroko TATEISHI, Hosei University
		The Possibility of Creating a Multi-Layered System for the Protection of Human Rights: What can Asian Countries Learn from UK-European experiences under the European Convention on Human Rights?	Prof. Akiko EJIMA, Meiji University
		Question and answer
15:30 | 17:00	2nd session		Moderator: Associate Prof. Isabelle Giraudou, Nagoya University
		Critical Review of Recent Practice of the Supreme Court of Japan	Associate Prof. Minori OKOCHI, Nagoya University
		Critical Review of Recent Trend of Japanese Nationality Act	Prof. Dai YOKOMIZO, Nagoya University
		Worldwide Activities of the Venice Commission	Dr. Schnutz Dürr. Venice commission
		Question and answer

Objective

    On the matters relating to human rights and democracy, there are so many differences in the situations between Europe and Japan. Asia, or more exactly, East Asia has no (sub-) regional system for protection and /or promotion of human rights. Japan is a State Party to many of major Human Rights Conventions adopted by the United Nations, but has never accepted the machineries receiving individuals’ complaints.
    The Constitution of Japan was adopted in 1946 and entered into force in 1947. Its text and the main-stream interpretations followed the model of liberal-democracy common to the post-war West Europeans. Compared with Germany, for example, the place of the concept of human dignity is not so high, at least on the text. Predominant view is that the judicial review in light of the protection of fundamental rights in the Constitution should be exercised with due regard to the extent of effectiveness of democratic or parliamentary process. We Japanese have no national institution for human rights (NIHR). It means that no governmental mechanism other than the executive or the judiciary exists for protection and/or promotion of human rights.
    Europeans have access to one of the most effective regional .mechanisms: the European Court of Human Rights. Most of the cases before the Court relate to right to personal freedoms (Article 5) or right of access to the courts (Article 6). These rights do not so directly affect democratic process of each state as some others such as the right to freedom of opinion or expression.
    In sum, formal comparison in actual situations shows big gap between Japan and Europe. If we discuss on facial level, the main line of arguments would be parallel monologs. Substantial comparison is only accomplished in light of the actual contexts of each concept and institution.
    Japanese scholars have been much interested in and learned from European situations. But in contrast, no sufficient efforts have been made to secure better understanding of Japanese situations among Europeans. In this Symposium, we would like to introduce Japanese or Asian situations relating to human rights and democracy including their historical and social backgrounds. With correspondent presentations and discussions from the European side, this symposium is expected to be a starting point for more fruitful dialogs with much substance in the future.

Organized by

• Nagoya University Graduate School of Law
• Nagoya University Center for Asian Legal Exchange
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
• -Grant-in-Aid project “Toward a Conceptualization on Structure of Constitutionalization of European Regional Order through an Analysis of Implementation of the Human Rights Convention”
• -Strategic Young Researcher Overseas Visits Program for Accelerating Brain Circulation “Aspire to becoming the international node for the study of legal assistance -International joint research for building the theoretical foundation-“
• -International Training Program, “Training Program for Researchers Capable of Disseminating Knowledge on Laws Asian Countries and Legal Assistance Activities in Asia”
• -Program for Leading Graduate School, “The Program for Cross-Border Legal Institution Design”
• -Grants for Excellent Graduate Schools

Auspices

• Japanese Consulate in Strasbourg
• Under the auspices of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr. Thorbjorn Jagland