CEMiPoS Submits Petition to Stop the Construction of Military Base at Henoko and Oura Bay

During the 2024 Decolonizing Futures conference, participants drafted the following letter demanding that American and Japanese authorities* halt the relocation of Futenma air base to Oura Bay:

"Stop the US Military Base in Henoko and Oura Bay, Okinawa!

The U.S. military base in Okinawa has been found to cause severe environmental damage, contributing to negative effects on health, biodiversity, and, hence, the loss of Indigenous culture and identity. The pollution inflicted on fresh water will prevent approximately half a million Ryukyuans from having clean and safe drinking water. The toxic chemicals used, for example, in the production of food wrapping, nonstick cookware, and military firefighting foams are said to have caused impacts not only on human health but also on the health of marine and terrestrial organisms, which will eventually pollute biodiversity, harming the food chain on which the Islanders are dependent.

The people of the Okinawa island can be recognised as one of the indigenous peoples of the Ryukyu islands, in a broad sense, although they are not recognised by the Japanese government. Their being on the Island from pre-historic times (before Japan colonized them), and their maintaining their ethnicity, languages, culture, beliefs, and identity corresponds to how Indigenous people are conceptualized within the international legal framework.

As an Indigenous people, the Ryukyuans are subject to a protection regime under the Human Rights legal framework, given that their culture, languages, land, and political institutions have been forcefully seized. The current occupation by U.S. military bases and their actions causing water pollution, soil erosion, deforestation, and the degradation of coral environments threatens Ryukyuans enjoyment of their rights, both in terms of physical and cultural existence.

We will mention just one example among many threats: the dugong, a sea mammal which is listed as vulnerable on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN, is highly at risk. Henoko/Oura Bay was the largest and best seagrass bed where Okinawa's dugongs, which live in the northernmost part of the world, could survive. However, due to construction work to build military bases, the disappearance of seaweed beds due to sea reclamation, and the pollution and environmental destruction of the sea due to construction work, sea grass will decrease, which results in very few possibilities for the dugong to breed. Therefore, we urge the Japanese and US authorities to stop the relocation of MCAS Futenma to Henoko/Oura Bay!

Japan has the responsibility to ensure that the rights of the Ryukyuans are protected under human rights instruments, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), respectively under Articles 27 and 15 (1/a). In addition, Japan bears the responsibility for ensuring the respect for Ryukyuans’ traditionally developed knowledge and practices embodied in biodiversity conservation and management under Article 8(j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity in response to what happens currently as a result of the military activities of the U.S. bases.

As participants of the seminar Decolonizing Futures – Transforming an Era of Catastrophe, Poverty, Hatred, Discrimination, and Violence, into an Era of Hope – we have learned the serious realities faced by wildlife and local people in connection with the military base relocation. We understand that the military base in the Henoko/Oura Bay would cause an environmental disaster for the biological diversity.

Respectfully,

Gunnel Bergström, (Professor, University of Pittsburgh)

Hiroshi Maruyama (Director, CEMiPoS, Centre for Environmental and Minority Policy Studies)

Kamrul Hossain (Research Professor and the Director of the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law (NIEM) at the Arctic Centre)

Kazuma Maetakenishi (Associate Professor, Nihon University)

Kanae Uema（Curator, Sakima Art Museum）

Meghan Kuckelman (Associate Professor, Meio University)

Jelisava Sethna (Director, Linguapax Asia)

Joy Taniguchi (Professor, Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology)

Olivia Doyle (Student, University of British Columbia)

Gillian Sawyer (Student, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa)

Antonie Grahamsdaughter (Journalist, Filmmaker, Curator)RIakop

Andrea Boccardi (Assistant Professor, Masaryk University)

Carles Jornet (PhD candidate, The University of Sydney)

Risako Sakai (PhD candidate, Oregon State University)

Etsuko Urashima (Resident of Henoko)

Nirupama Chandrasekhar (PhD candidate, University of California, Santa Barbara)

Ayelet Zohar (Art Historian, Senior Lecturer, PhD MFA, Tel Aviv University)

Nicholas Overacker (Master's student, Kitami Institute of Technology)

Madoka Hammine (Associate Professsor, Meio University)

Matthew L Guay (Associate Professor, Ryutsu Keizai University

Shikoh Shiraiwa (PhD candidate, University of Helsinki/University of Antwerp)

Matthew W Topping (PhD candidate, University of the Ryukyus)

Sutej Hugu (Chief Advisor, Indigenous Taiwan Self-Detetmination Allience)

Tomasz S. Wicherkiewicz (Professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland)

Gijs van der Lubbe (Part-time Teacher, Okinawa Christian University, University of the Ryukyus, Meio University, Meijigakuin University, Okinawa International University)

Shinnosuke Ouchi (Bachelor of Arts student, Meio University)

Katarzyna Pastuszak (Assistant Professor - Gdańsk University, Poland)

Stefania Castelblanco Pérez (Artisan and Researcher  -   Bogotá, Colombia)

Milosz Kusz (Humans Rigths advocate - Stockholm, Sweden)

Pedro Muñoz Ramírez (Lecturer - University of the West of Scotland)

Siboné Oroza (Postdoctoral researcher, University of Helsinki)"

*Recipients included Chief Cabinet Secretary HAYASHI Yoshimasa, Defense Minister KIHARA Minoru, Land Minister SAITO Tetsuo, Minister of Reconstruction TSUCHIYA Shinako, Minister of Foreign Affairs IWAYA Takeshi, U.S. President Joseph BIDEN, Secretary of Defense Lloyd AUSTIN III, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm EMMANUEL, and MCAS Futenma Executive Officer Jeremy SIEGEL.