The Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in September 2015, is based on the principles of "leaving no one behind" and "human rights protection". However, there are four factors that hinder these principles: gender inequality, the climate crisis, growing disparities brought to light by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the many conflicts and shaky democratic institutions that have emerged around the world. In addition, disparities are also widening in Japan, as the poverty of the elderly, female-headed households, and non-regular workers are getting poorer, while the population of the wealthy and ultra-wealthy wealthier is on the rise.

Progress on the SDGs is currently stagnant, and UN Secretary-General Guterres noted at the 2023 SDG Summit that progress at the halfway point is slow or fragile, with only 15 per cent of Sustainable Development Goals on track. “The SDG Stimulus" has been proposed at the UN to close the funding gap, but concrete commitments from governments, including Japan, have not been sufficient. The report once again emphasizes the significance of the role played by civil society.

This paper analyses the global trend of Official Development Assistance (ODA) of the members of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC). The total ODA volume of the DAC members in 2022 was 204 billion US Dollars, a record high, and was increased by 13.6% compared to 2021. The increase was brought about by a rapid increase in in-donor refugee costs (IDRC) in European and North American countries. Excluding IDRC, ODA was only increased by 4.6%. With the improved situation of the pandemic, the share of COVID-19-related aid was down to 5.5% in 2022 from around 10% in 2020 and 2021. A controversial issue in COVID-19-related aid was counting excess vaccine donations as ODA. A lesson that could be drawn from the aid trends under the multiple crises is that more attention should be paid to the possible tension between long-term developmental and short-term humanitarian objectives.

The world is facing multiple crises, including COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and high prices and energy insecurity. Against this backdrop, the external debt of developing countries is increasing. The debt problem, which has persisted since the 1980s, cannot now be resolved through traditional restructuring negotiations due to the diversification of lenders. This article presents the current situation of debt problems in developing countries, the responses of countries and international institutions, and the recommendations by international civil society.

The World has confronted numerous humanitarian crises, including the Myanmar Coup, conflicts in Ukraine and between Israel and Palestine, earthquakes in Turkey, Syria, Morocco, and Afghanistan, and floods in Libya. They have resulted in large-scale damage to human lives and livelihoods, exacerbated by damage continued and accumulated from other human-made disasters in the affected areas. Concurrently, at the global level, we are also threatened by climate change at a slow onset but also as an imminent risk.

These crises have brought about significant consequences for human health. Among the notable global disasters is the COVID-19 pandemic. Although its exact origin is unknown, the cause of viruses, including an endemic Ebola, is ostensibly the increasing interaction between humans and animals as the host of those viruses¹⁾. Besides, it is expected that climate change will lead to the increase and spread of infectious diseases.

What actions can be taken in response to these challenges? From a political angle, the world is being polarized into “democratic” and “authoritarian” nations, with countries in the “Global South,” prone to and most affected by crises, lying in between them. Both “groups” actively try to influence as many countries as possible from the “Global South” to win their respective positions. Meanwhile, the Japanese government amended its Official Development Assistance (ODA) Charter as a national security assurance tool.

In this study, I have introduced the recent crises’ details and background and analyzed their consequences and risks, including health. I then suggested the duties of the civil society I belong to, including influencing the international community and the Japanese government in collaboration with other stakeholders.

This research note illuminates the panel organized by the Special Thematic Session for Community Relations at the 2023 Annual Conference of the Japan Association for Migration Policy Studies (JAMPS) held at Meiji University on Sunday, May 28, 2023. The panel dealt with the structural change in society under COVID-19, where social welfare councils and social workers have emerged as "new" actors in supporting foreign residents in Japan. Simultaneously, several international NGOs had begun to support foreigners in Japan due to the restrictions on cross-border movement and the SDGs' commitment to mitigate inequality within the country. The COVID-19 disaster has triggered the convergence of these two actors to collaborate in dealing with foreigners in great need but remained largely invisible within the society.

The collaboration between Toshima Ward Residents Council of Social Welfare and an international NGO Shanti Volunteer Association was highlighted as a case study. The community social workers of Toshima Ward Residents Council worked with Shanti Volunteer Association, which played a pivotal role in organizing the network of experts, including multi-lingual coordinators and lawyers, to provide comprehensive support to improve the situation of foreigners in Toshima Ward, Tokyo. The next step is to transform and institutionalize the current social work to incorporate foreign residents into Japan's social work theory and practice.

The paper reviews the issues and current situation related to the partnership between Northern and Southern Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), focusing on initiatives aimed at rebuilding these relationships and re-examining support for civil society in the South. It also examines the current position of NGOs as donors and the potential of initiatives to rebuild relationships with Southern NGOs.

NGOs started to evolve since the 1980s with an expectation of offering an alternative approach in development. However, northern NGOs have become part of the traditional aid structure to provide service providers and function as fund managers of donor countries, focusing on quantifiable project results, often perceived as inflexible donors by Southern NGOs. To truly embody an alternative development approach, NGOs need to break away from the traditional aid structure. This involves transforming the position of Northern NGOs and reconstructing their partnership with Southern NGOs.

Several attempts to rebuild this relationship have been made, but with limited success. However, recent initiatives like “Pledge for Change” and reports by Peace Direct are emerging, focusing on correcting power relations existing in partnerships between Northern and Southern NGOs.

Japan has been one of the major donors for the reconstruction of Afghanistan over the past 20 years, and has also developed broad relationships with the country through international cooperation projects, while accepting students from Afghanistan in various fields. In the aftermath of the dramatic political change that took place on 15 August 2021, it became clear that government employees, civil society workers and former international students were no longer able to utilize their expertise; and had additionally become the primary target of persecution due to their association with foreign countries including Japan. More than 800 people have been evacuated to Japan since that time, including former staff of the Japanese Embassy and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), former international students, and local staff of Japanese NGOs.

The purpose of this study is to identify the challenges of “refugees” in Japan by interviewing people who fled there following Afghanistan’s political upheaval. The interviews centered around three issues affecting interviewees’ lives: (1) their fear of persecution, (2) their experiences of migration to Japan, and (3) the challenges they have faced during resettlement. Although Japan ratified the UN Refugee Convention in 1981, its refugee recognition rate is less than 1%—a figure lagging far behind international standards. The authors believe that one reason for the low refugee recognition is that the “well-founded fear of persecution” stipulated by the International Refugee Convention is not fully understood by either Japan’s government or society. This study explores how evacuees from Afghanistan with diverse backgrounds experienced a clear fear of persecution, and also documents their experiences. By identifying the difficulties the evacuees have faced in resettling to Japan, the study additionally aims to contribute toward policy debates on the social integration of refugees.

In Japan, women's political participation lags behind. The essence of democracy lies in respecting a wide range of citizens' opinions and values, and reflecting them in decision-making. The minimum percentage of people required to influence decision-making, known as the "critical mass," is said to be 30％. However, while the global average of female parliamentarians stands in the mid-26％ range, the proportion of female members in the Japanese House of Representatives is only 10.3％, the lowest among the G7 nations. Despite women constituting 51.3％ of Japan's population and 51.7％ of eligible voters, the skewed male representation in the legislature makes it challenging to assert that discussions are appropriate and equitable. This makes it difficult to incorporate women's perspectives and opinions into legislation and policies.

Therefore, this document discusses the current state of women's political participation in Japan, the government's efforts to promote it, the obstacles hindering women's political involvement, and, in the context of the 2023 G7 Summit held in Japan, the advocacy activities of civil society, with a focus on the official engagement group Women7 (W7).

Even if a country professes to have a "full democracy" and its government actively promotes gender equality, as seen in Japan, the low societal awareness of gender equality prevents an increase in the number of women in politics. Despite the situation where the number of female politicians falls short of the critical mass, civil society can effectively utilize platforms like the G7 to engage in dialogue with the government. In other words, to create a society where female politicians can thrive, civil society must actively challenge traditional gender roles, transform societal perceptions and structures, and take proactive measures to eliminate gender inequality. The active participation of civil society and the commitment of the government are expected to strengthen concrete policies and initiatives for gender equality, leading to their realization.