The Association of Comprehensive Studies
for Independence of the Lew Chewans (ACSILs)
___________________________________________
POSITION PAPER
By Dr. YASUKATSU MATSUSHIMA
before the UNITED NATIONS
Towards the Independence of the Ryukyus (Okinawa)
29 September 2015
1.Introduction
Kuyoonaara (Hello)
My name is Dr. Yasukatsu
Matsushima, and I am a Ryukyuan (Okinawan) who was born and raised in the
Ryukyus. The Ryukyus consists of 160 islands in the Pacific Ocean surrounded by
Japan, Taiwan, China, and the Philippines. It is populated by about 1.4 million
people. I am co-director of The Association of
Comprehensive Studies for Independence of the Lew Chewans (ACSILs). The object
of our association is to conduct academic research, discuss the Independence of
the Ryukyus, and promote international cooperation to actualize independence.
Even though the Ryukyus has been subordinated to Japan,
the sovereignty and the right of self-determination of Ryukyuans with their
unique history, languages, culture and religious beliefs, should be preserved
for Ryukyuans.
2.A Brief History of the
Ryukyus
The Ryukyus was an independent country
called the Ryukyu Kingdom from the 14 th century until 1879. In 1879,
the Japanese Government annexed the Ryukyus by military force and started to
rule the Ryukyus as its colony. This was a serious violation of Section 2 Article 51 and Article 52 of
the Vienna Convention.
The Japanese Government
imposed colonialist policies resulting in the dispossession of our lands and
the prohibition of Ryukyuan languages in schools in an attempt to efface our
languages, culture, and customs.
In 1945, the Japanese Government used the Ryukyus
as a battle ground even though it was heavily populated by civilians. The
number of Ryukyuan fatalities reached around 150 thousand, or about one-fourth
of the population of the Ryukyus at that time. Ryukyuans who spoke in their
native tongue were slaughtered by Japanese soldiers because it was not
understandable to the Japanese and was prohibited during the war. Others were
ordered to commit group suicides by Japanese soldiers because they were thought
to be a burden to Japanese soldiers.
After the Pacific War, the Ryukyus were
placed under the direct control of the US Military Government until 1972. The United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands forcefully confiscated
land at gunpoint in order to construct military bases.
In the 1950s, US Marine bases were moved
from the Japanese Islands to the Ryukyus. In 1962, following the United Nations
Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples
and The Charter
of the United Nations, the
Ryukyuan Legislative body passed a resolution, stating that the US rule over the
Ryukyus violated the principles of self-determination and territorial non-aggrandizement
prescribed in the Charter of
the United Nations.
This resolution was sent to all 104 member states of the UN at that time.
In 1972, the colonial administration of the
Ryukyus reverted from the US to Japan. The strong wishes of the Ryukyuans to
remove all US bases were ignored. The military policies on the Ryukyus have
been dictated by the US and Japanese governments unilaterally to ignore
Ryukyuan claims. The colonization of the Ryukyus is clearly evident militarily,
politically, economically.
The large number of US bases are supported
economically by the Japanese Government under the auspices of the U.S.- Japan
Security Treaty and the Status of Forces Agreement. The power of this Agreement
is beyond those of Japanese Constitution.
In 1972,
the Japanese Government instituted the Okinawa Development Agency, which has
made the Ryukyus an economic colony of Japan. This agency has facilitated the
destruction of the environment in the Ryukyus. The Japanese Government has also
used development funds to force US military bases onto the Ryukyus.
In 1996, I participated in the UN Working
Group on Indigenous Peoples. In 2011, I was on the UN Special Committee on
Decolonization as a member of the Guam Government to lobby for the decolonization
and demilitarization of Guam and the Ryukyus. Thus far Ryukyuans have taken
part in several UN organizations to decolonize and demilitarize the Ryukyus.
In 2006, Dr. Deu Deu Dien, a special
reporter from the UN Commission on Human Rights, came to survey military bases
on the Ryukyus. He reported that the Ryukyuan situation is abnormal and the
Japanese Government discriminates against Ryukyuans. In 2008, the UN Human
Rights Committee recognized that Ryukyuans are indigenous peoples and that their
own cultural and language education must be promoted. In 2010, the UN Committee
on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination stated that US military base
problem on the Ryukyus is tantamount to racial discrimination.
3.Towards
the Demilitarization of the Ryukyus
74% of all US military bases in the
Japanese have been concentrated in the Ryukyus, which covers only 0.6% of all
Japanese territory. Many military bases are
located in small and densely populated islands. That is why there are so many
accidents and crimes committed by US personnel.
The Government justifies the presence of
the bases in the name of “public interest.” However, Ryukyuans argue that they
suffer unusually from the consequences of the military bases and military
training: permanent noise linked to military air traffic, plane and helicopter
crashes, accidents due to bullets or “whiz-bangs”, oil pollution, fires due to
air maneuvers, and criminal acts by American military personnel. The noise due
to airplanes and helicopters is higher than the level permissible by law and
causes severe health consequences, including school problems in which children
cannot concentrate and lessons are regularly interrupted by military airplanes.
We have faced such serious damage as field
fires and bomb accidents caused by live ammunition practice, plane and
helicopter crashes, deafening noise pollution, traffic accidents, the destruction
of environmental and historical sites, erosion of indigenous cultural heritage,
infringements upon the daily life of the Ryukyuans and so on. From 1972 to
2010, there have been 5,705 military related accidents and incidents.
Two of the most shocking cases are the rape
of a 12-year-old school girl by three US soldiers in 1995 and the 2004 US
helicopter crash at Okinawa International University. This helicopter belonged
to Futenma Air Base. At that time, Okinawa Prefectural police officers were driven out, and they
were prohibited from participating in the investigation. Victims received no
compensation.
The Japanese Government hasn’t changed
US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement in spite of the strong outrage amongst
almost all Ryukyuans. This Agreement gives
the US military personnel special privileges to refuse handing over criminal
suspects to Japanese authorities and on-the-spot inspections.
According
to a poll carried by The Ryukyu Shimpo (a local newspaper) and Okinawa Television
Broadcasting,83 percent of respondents oppose relocation of the Futenma base
within Ryukyus on May 30,31 in 2015. The Okinawa Prefectural Governor Takeshi
Onaga and Nago City Mayor Susumu Inamine also refuse to
accept new bases anywhere in the Ryukyus.
We
Ryukyuans insist that the militarization on the Ryukyus is a direct affront to
the process of decolonization under the UN Special Committee on Decolonization
(C– 24).
Ryukyuans
must have the freedom to exercise their right of self-determination, eliminate
discrimination, and protect and promote their human rights as an equal member
of the international community according to the two International Covenants on
Human Rights, the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning
Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the Charter
of the United Nations, the Vienna Declaration on Human Rights, and the U.N. Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
.
4. Request for the Inscription of the Ryukyus into the UN List of Non-Self Governing Territories
The Ryukyus
are a colony of Japan and US Governments because both have forced numerous
military bases onto the Ryukyus for 70 years despite strong protest.
We petition that the Ryukyus once again become
an independent state in order to be liberated from this colonial situation. We
insist that the inscription of the Ryukyus into the UN list of Non-Self-
Governing Territories under the purview of C-24 should be done as the
obligation of UN.
We need the purview of UN Special
Committee on Decolonization for Ryukyuans to live on our islands peacefully as
human beings by exercising the right of all peoples to self-determination.
Niifaiyou (thank you)
The Association of Comprehensive Studies
for Independence of the Lew Chewans (ACSILs)
Dr. Yasukatsu Matsushima
Mail: matusima345@gmail.com
