By SAWA OKABAYASHI/ Staff Writer
February 19, 2021 at 18:23 JST
High-profile figures, including U.N. Under-Secretary-General Izumi Nakamitsu, signed a joint declaration to act to stop discrimination in Japan. (Provided photo)
Forty-two of Japan’s top leaders in various fields have issued a joint declaration to take action to eradicate discrimination in the nation.
The move came after former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori stepped down as chief of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee for making sexist comments.
“Mori’s resignation won’t end anything, and we want to offer an opportunity to seriously change our society,” said U.N. Under-Secretary-General Izumi Nakamitsu. “Why don’t you take action?”
Nakamitsu and other leaders started the movement over their shared concerns about discrimination issues.
The group, in their declaration, listed five points leaders could use to eradicate forms of discrimination, including sexism, and to help make society more diverse.
Signatories agreed that they would not be silent in the face of discriminatory remarks and would allow people from any background, including women, young people and non-Japanese, to join discussions and make plans and take action to immediately increase their numbers.
Those who signed the declaration will also urge hosts of symposiums and meetings to ensure they are not male-dominated and identify unconscious forms of bias and inequality.
People who put their names on the declaration included Nobuyuki Hirano, chairperson of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.; Yoshimitsu Kobayashi, chairperson at Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp.; and Kirin Holdings Co. President Yoshinori Isozaki.
In addition, Yuri Okina, chairperson of the Japan Research Institute Ltd., and Teruo Fujii, set to be the University of Tokyo's next president, also signed the declaration, along with Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki.
Nakamitsu and others in the group tapped their personal connections to find like-minded leaders in various fields and asked them to join the declaration.
“Even if they just warn people over making discriminatory remarks on the spot or point out situations where too many of the speakers are men, the ripple effect from doing so will change society,” she said.
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