EUとジェンダー

多層的人権保障システムの一翼としてのEU

抄録

　The 2022 Public Symposium organized by the European Union Studies Association in Japan was held under the theme of “EU and Gender” as an actual and urgent issue of civil society （closely related to the common theme of the 2022 Conference, “The Future of Europe and Civil Society”）. While issues related to gender have shown remarkable development among human rights issues, there are also a number of problems that have not improved, and in some states, there are stagnation or regression. In the symposium, attention is focused on the development of the concept of gender and the systems to solve the problems. Issues related to sexual minorities/LGBTQ/SOGI as well as gender equality were taken up, while attention was paid not only to the EU but also to other systems that cooperate and compete with the EU as mechanisms for guaranteeing human rights.

　While the EU’s starting point was economic integration, it has gradually continued to work on human rights. Today, the EU addresses not only human rights issues within the EU but also global human rights issues. There are various factors behind this development. First, the EU itself needed to address human rights in order to secure its legitimacy and increase the effectiveness of its internal and external policy agenda. Second, in the European region, there are multiple layers of human rights systems and their interactive achievements promote the further realization of human rights. Notable among these are the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights （ECHR）, which, with the rich case law of the European Court of Human Rights （ECtHR）, has shaped the human rights standards in Europe. In particular, the ECtHR has been able to address and advance, albeit cautiously, new human rights issues such as LGBTQ rights. Third, the effective implementation by member states is in fact essential.

　Four panellists （Yoko KUROIWA, Yuki OKAMURA, Hiroyuki TANIGUCHI （guest panellist） and Tomoko HIKUMA） and a commentator （Wataru CHIDA） successfully explored and assessed the role and significance of the EU’s involvement in gender issues, comparing the EU’s efforts with the efforts of other international organizations and member states and encouraged lively discussion between them and audience. The EU’s achievements are an important reference point for Japan.