Make “the Founding Declaration of the Zenkoku Suiheisha and related items” the Memory of the World
It is very regrettable for us that the items we have applied were not nominated at the national level, having not been able to live up to the expectations reflected in tremendous support from all over the country. Although we are convinced that the Founding Declaration of the Zenkoku Suiheisha, being the first declaration of human rights in the world sent out by the disadvantaged minority, is worth being acknowledged as the Memory of the World, we would like to discuss what to do in the future with the co-sponsor, the Sujin Self-Government Association. While the result is disappointing for the Suiheisha History Museum, we would like to support the registration of the two items nominated by the Selection Committee, both of which are worth being acknowledged as the Memory of the World.
24 September 2015
KAWAGUCHI Shoshi
Chief Director
Public Interest Incorporated Foundation Nara Foundation for Culture of Human Rights
On the result of the national selection for the international nomination to the UNESCO Memory of the World programme (Japan National Committee for UNESCO; 24 September 2015; in Japanese)Thank you for your cooperation with signatures to support the registration
We have collected:154,685 signatures by individuals; and
539 signatures by organizations.
(as of 24 September 2015)
The representatives of the Association to Seek for the Registration visited the Japan National Committee for UNESCO and submitted the signatures, respectively, on 1 July (signatures by organizations), 6 August (both categories of signatures) and 3 September 2015 (both categories of signatures). 1,907 signatures by individuals and 6 signatures by organizations were sent out to the National Committee on 17 September, which arrived on the following morning.
213 signatures by organizations were submitted on 1 July (those collected by 23 June);
87,019 signatures by individuals and 70 signatures by organizations were submitted on 6 August (those collected by 31 July); and,
64,536 signatures by individuals and 214 signatures by organizations were submitted on 3 September (those collected by 31 July).
The total number of signatures as of 3 September amounted to 153,462 (signatures by individuals) and 533 (signatures by organizations) respectively/
What is the Memory of the World?
It is a programme implemented by UNESCO with a view to preserving historical documentary heritage, such as books and documents at risk, and making them widely accessible.The registration has been undertaken every two years since 1997. The number of inscriptions now amounts to more than 300, including the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the scores of the Symphony No.9 written by van Beethoven himself and the Diaries of Anne Frank.
The registered heritage from Japan includes the Sakubei Yamamoto collection (2011), Mido Kanpakuki (diary of Fujiwara no Michinaga, 2013) and the materials related to the Keicho-era Mission to Europe (2013, nominated together with Spain).
“The Founding Declaration of the Zenkoku Suiheisha and related items” recommended for the Memory of the World Register
What we are recommending for the inscription in 2017 are the Founding Declaration of the Zenkoku Suiheisha, adopted at the Founding Congress of the Zenkoku Suiheisha on 3 March 1922, and related items (11 items in total).On the recognition that human beings should be respected the Founding Declaration of the Zenkoku Suiheisha argued that Buraku people should be proud of themselves and stand up for an autonomous collective movement for their own liberation, rejecting the past reconciliation movements based on compassion. As such, high value has been attached to it in the history of human rights as the first declaration of human rights in Japan.
The Founding Declaration, which is at the same time the first declaration of human rights in the world issued by the disadvantaged minority, not only encouraged Buraku people who aspired for liberation from discrimination but also gave encouragement and stimulation to the consciousness and movements of Korean residents in Japan and other national minorities who had been discriminated against, including those living in the Ryukyu arc, the Ainu people and ex-patients of Hansen’s disease.
Furthermore the Declaration had an impact on the Hyeongpyengsa (an association created on 25 April 1923, primarily by Baegjeong people who were a disadvantaged minority in Korea, under the colonial rule of Japan) as well as the liberation movements after the World War II by Sinti and Roma people and by the disadvantaged caste in India (Dalit).
Reports were published on the Suiheisha movement and the Founding Declaration, in which the former’s philosophies are expressed, on the American magazine The Nation as well as on newspapers in the Korea peninsula, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom, having drawn attention to the movement.
The Founding Declaration of the Zenkoku Suiheisha, which sought for human dignity and made disadvantaged minorities in and outside the country proud of themselves, is the document worth being shared by people all over the world and should be kept in the memory of the world.
The nominators and the representative
“The Founding Declaration of the Zenkoku Suiheisha and related items” are to be nominated for the Memory of the World Register by the Sujin Self-Government Association (Kyoto City), which runs the Bank of Yanagihara Memorial Museum, and the Public Interest Incorporated Foundation Nara Foundation for Culture of Human Rights (Gose City, Nara Prefecture), which runs the Suiheisha History Museum.The nominators are represented by Mr. MUSHAKOJI Kinhide (former Vice President of the United Nations University, Vice President of the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and President of the IMADR-Japan).
Association to Seek for the Inscription of “the Founding Declaration of the Zenkoku Suiheisha and related items” in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register
In addition to the nominators, the Headquarters of the Buraku Liberation League, the General Incorporation Association Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute, the Public Interest Incorporated Association Fukuoka Human Rights Research Institute, the Public Interest Incorporated Association Osaka Human Rights Museum and the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism ? Japan Committee formed the Association to Seek for the Inscription of “the Founding Declaration of the Zenkoku Suiheisha and related items” in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, seeking to realize the inscription in 2017.The roadmap to the inscription / Requests from the Association
Each country can submit up to two nominations for the review by UNESCO.In case of Japan, the National Committee for UNESCO will make a decision in September on the nomination on the basis of the applications submitted at the national level. Thereafter the nominations approved by UNESCO are to be inscribed in the Memory of the World Register around the summer in 2017.
Although we have already received tremendous support from all of you, we would like to ask you further to raise public awareness for the successful national selection of “the Founding Declaration of the Zenkoku Suiheisha and related items” that we recommend.
For further information on the nomination of “the Founding Declaration of the Zenkoku Suiheisha and related items” for the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, contact:
Bank of Yanagihara Memorial Museum6-3 Shimono-cho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto 600-8206 Japan
Phone +81 (0)75 371 0295
Suiheisha History Museum
235-2 Kashihara, Gose City, Nara 639-2244 Japan
Phone +81 (0)745 62 5588
We would appreciate your support and cooperation
Brochure (in Japanese)Association to Seek for the Inscription in MOW Established (25 March 2014)
Materials for the press conference (25 March 2014)Nomination for 2015 Failed (12 June 2014)
Comment after the selectionIt is regrettable for us that “the Founding Declaration of the Zenkoku Suiheisha and related items” were not included in the two nominations selected by the Selection Committee for the Memory of the World of the Japan National Committee for UNESCO.
In order to reward our predecessors for their efforts to resist serious discrimination and to seek for human dignity, we will continue to work for the application two years later to realize the inscription of “the Founding Declaration of the Zenkoku Suiheisha and related items” in the Memory of the World Register.
We would appreciate if you could continue to support and cooperate with us.
MORIYASU Toshiji
Director, Suiheisha History Museum
12 June 2014
Press release by the Japan National Committee for UNESCO (12 June 2014;
in Japanese)In order to see PDF files, you need Adobe System’s Adobe Reader or Acrobat Reader, which is distributed free of charge on the website of Adobe System. Click the icon below and follow the explanations for downloading and installing the application.
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