This October marks the 10th anniversary of the arrival in Okinawa of the MV-22B Osprey, a unique yet troubled tiltrotor aircraft. Based at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on the island of Okinawa, the aircraft, which boasts vertical and short takeoff and landing capabilities, was supposed to revolutionize humanitarian assistance, disaster relief capacities, and troop transportation in the region. Normally viewed as part of the larger context of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty and the increased Chinese aggression in the East China Sea, the deployment of the Osprey also factors heavily in the broader Okinawan human rights landscape. Two issues are driving local concerns over the Osprey, which were captured by Okinawan civil society submissions to Japan’s 2017 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Each member state of the United Nations takes part in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process every five years. The aims are simple enough: evaluate and improve the human rights situations in all 193 UN countries and assist the fulfilment of each state’s human rights obligations through an objective, transparent, constructive process.
Every four and a half years, all 193 United Nations member states have their human rights records examined in a peer-reviewed process known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). In November, this will mark Thailand’s third time through the UPR, with the 2016 review occurring around the less than auspicious second anniversary of the May 2014 coup d’état.
