The influence and impact of Japan to upbringing the human rights norms in Southeast Asia through the world of business

Sammanfattning: Japan’s influence in Southeast Asia has been enormous throughout history, whether in its military occupation, culture, or economic ties, and there is no doubt that Southeast Asia has developed under its influence. Have Southeast Asian states then developed and improved their human rights situation because of Japan? Or has Japan aggravated the situation being “blue washed”, by performing its business activities to be “cooperative”, or to simply make profit? My answer to these questions is that Japan has certainly done a considerable amount of upbringing human rights norms, with afterwar compensation and ODA to help shape the infrastructure of many countries in the region, and this can especially be seen in economic, social and cultural rights. The original Japanese approach of being non-intrusive, accommodative, and understanding towards the local government has made slow but steady progress. However, there are certainly more room for businesses to be responsible by acting in a more responsible manner, such as adopting more international human rights norms, asking professionals for consultation to truly comprehend the requirements for being a responsible business towards human rights and the society, including the environment. There might be voices asking for more enforceable methods, such as the new legislation with penalties for Japanese MNEs to follow the international standards and perform HRDD, and providing effective remedy for those who have been impacted by the business activities. However, I believe that this is not the best approach, and the best approach for Japanese MNEs are to maintain contact and good relationship with the local government while paying more attention to the requirements and details of the international standards, such as UNDP, OECD Guidelines, sector specific guidance, the Equator Principles and the IFC PS. The main focus of the details of the international standards shall be, strengthened engagement with multi-stakeholders such as local community and NGOs, as well as human rights specialists to avoid adverse impacts to happen, and if adverse impacts had already happened, MNEs shall try to avoid it to worsen, and provide effective remedy accordingly. Finally, I shall stress that disclosure is the most important stage of human rights due diligence that Japanese MNEs should work on, so that there can be more debate and improvement, for the enterprises to rise up to sustainable development, resulting in raising the human rights norms in Southeast Asia. In this paper, the examination will take doctrinal and law in context approaches, and in the law in-context approach, it will take both public and private sectors in consideration, using the cases filed to Japan NCP as examples.