In the eye of the storm after the assassination of the former prime minister, the religious group founded by Rev. Moon filed a complaint with the Human Rights Committee. “In Japan, a national tragedy has been distorted with a strange tale that turns the killer into a victim.” Complaints of personal attacks on its members. The issue remains hot in the political world of Tokyo.
Geneva () – The Federation of Families for Unity and Peace in the World – the so-called Unification Church founded by the Korean reverend Sun Myung Moon – has filed a formal complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee for “a campaign of intolerance, discrimination and persecution” in Japan. The religious group has been in the eye of the storm since last July due to the murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, shot dead by a man resentful of the numerous donations that his mother made to the religious group.
The brief presented by the NGO Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience (CAP-LC), based in Paris, asks that the UN Human Rights Committee address the “suffering that members of the Unification Church in Japan during the 136th session, which will be held from October 10 to November 4, 2022.
The 22-page complaint alleges that the rights of this religious group in Japan “were grossly, systematically and flagrantly violated” following the July 8 murder by a man who hated the Unification Church. Some Japanese lawyers and media are accused of “distorting this national tragedy into an absurd narrative that makes the alleged killer a victim of the Unification Church, blaming it for the murder. Church members have suffered hundreds of personal attacks , assaults, death threats, acts of vandalism and other forms of public violence”.
The complaint also condemns public efforts to “name and shame” Japanese politicians who have participated in events of organizations linked to the Unification Church. It appeals to Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – to which Japan is a signatory – which protects both the right of citizens to participate in the democratic process and the freedom of elected representatives to “consult and cooperate with leaders and members of the religions of their choice.
The issue of the Unification Church remains very hot in the Japanese political debate. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida himself said on Monday – opening the session of the Japanese parliament – that he wanted to hear the “hard voice” of the people who criticize the links between many members of his party and the religious group. But to those in Japan even calling for it to be dissolved, he replied that the issue “must be carefully assessed in terms of religious freedom.”
For his part, on September 22 at a press conference held in the Tokyo office, Hideyuki Teshigawara, one of the heads of the Unification Church, responded to criticism on the issue of the family of the murder of Abe, stating that the religious group “will take into account the economic situation of its members and will ensure that donations are not excessive”, while guaranteeing respect for the “free will” of its faithful.
