Abstract
This paper discusses the Japanese society from the group-based rights perspective. International human rights law provides the rights mostly in an individualistic form. But there is also a development of the international standards of rights with group-dimensions. The right to self-determination under the common article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provide a collective right to peoples, and the jurisprudence has developed the scope and application to the ethno-cultural groups within the state, which primarily concerns the internal exercise of the right. Among others, the legal codification of the rights of indigenous peoples made a remarkable advancement with the adoption of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which include both individual and collective rights and enshrines indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination. Theory of liberal multiculturalism provides one of the normative grounds in providing group-based rights specific to minority groups within the state. The accommodation of minority groups within the state through special measures advances fairness among the majority and minority cultural groups, securing each individual’s personal autonomy and human dignity which are tied into their cultural communities. There are indigenous minority groups in Japan. Among them is Okinawans, who had once their own kingdom and have maintained their cultural distinctiveness as well as their unique identity. This paper will put focus on their growing claim of right to self-determination in relation to a particular case of the Henoko issue. Henoko is a place in Okinawa where the U.S. military facility is planned to be relocated. By bringing this case in the discussion, the paper will examine Okinawans’ claims on right to self-determination by applying the group-rights frameworks.