Antibase Okinawa activist to talk about ‘undue oppression’ at UN – The Mainichi

May 16, 2017 (Mainichi Japan)

NAHA (Kyodo) -- A prominent anti-U.S. base activist in Okinawa said Tuesday he hopes to draw attention to the "undue oppression" seen against base opponents in the island prefecture when he delivers a speech at a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in mid-June in Geneva.

"I want to tell that our (freedom of) expression is being regulated through perfunctory laws and that this situation is going unchallenged," said Hiroji Yamashiro, 64, who was detained for around five months from October for what his supporters call minor offenses during base protest activities.

The head of the Okinawa Peace Action Center was released on bail in March and is currently on trial for allegedly obstructing official duties and other offenses.

According to ongoing arrangements by the United Nations and Yamashiro, he has been given two minutes to speak in front of government officials during the U.N. council's plenary session in the week of June 12. He also plans to speak at a related event.

Yamashiro also said riot police and Japan Coast Guard members are frequently using "violence" against protesters at the Henoko coastal area, the site where the Japanese government is building a replacement facility for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, also in Okinawa.

According to his lawyer, Yamashiro needs to seek permission from the court before traveling to Switzerland because he is on trial.

In September 2015, Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga also made a speech at the U.N. Human Rights Council in the hope of winning international backing for his opposition to the plan to relocate the Futenma base within the prefecture.

The Japanese and U.S. governments have pursued the relocation of the Futenma base from a crowded residential area in Ginowan to the less populated Henoko in Nago, saying the plan is "the only solution" to address noise problems and accident risks posed by the base without undermining the deterrence provided by the Japan-U.S. alliance.

But Onaga and many other Okinawans, who are frustrated with hosting the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan, want the base to be relocated outside the prefecture.

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Antibase Okinawa activist to talk about 'undue oppression' at UN - The Mainichi