Yozo Yokota (17 October 1940 – 12 June 2019) was a professor of Law who acted as the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

from 1992 to 1996.

Academic career

Yozo Yokota was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, USA on 17 October 1940. He gained a Doctorate in Law from the Graduate School of Law and Politics of the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

in 1969. He was Legal Counsel of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

from 1974 to 1976. From 1979 to 1995 he was Professor of International Law at the

International Christian University is a non-denominational private university located in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan, commonly known as ICU. With the efforts of Prince Takamatsu, General Douglas MacArthur, and BOJ President Hisato Ichimada, ICU was established in 1949 as the first ...

in Tokyo. He was a visiting professor at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

in 1983, at the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a Public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of C ...

in 1984 and at

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

from 1984 to 1985. From 1995 to 2001 he was Professor of International Economic Law of the

. He was a Professor of Law in the Faculty of Law at

Chuo University , commonly referred to as or , is a private flagship research university in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1885 as Igirisu Hōritsu Gakkō (the English Law School), Chuo is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions in the country. The univer ...

, Tokyo, and Special Adviser to the Rector of

United Nations University The (UNU) is the think tank and academic arm of the United Nations. Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, its mission is to help resolve global issues related to human development and welfare thro ...

. Yozo Yokota was involved in research into public international law, international human rights law, international economic law, law of international organisations, law of international development, United Nations studies, and Japanese foreign policy. Yokota was a member of the Japan Association of International Human Rights Law, the Japanese Association of International Law, the Japanese Association of World Law and the Association of International Economic Law. He was appointed Secretary-General of the Japan Association of United Nations Studies.

Human rights work

From 1988 to 2000 Yozo Yokota was an alternate member of the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. Between 1992 and 1996 he was the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. In this role he met with the Minister of Information Brigadier-General Myo Thant and his successor Major-General Aye Kyaw. Both evaded his requests to distribute information on International Human Rights. His reports were responsible for critical resolutions adopted by the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

against the military regime in Burma. He resigned from this position in June 2006, to be replaced by Rajsoomer Lallah. His reasons were said to include career plans in Tokyo and frustration at poor support from Geneva-based human rights staff. He was first elected to the

International Commission of Jurists The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. It is a standing group of 60 eminent jurists—including senior judges, attorneys and academics—who work to develop national and inte ...

(ICJ) in 1996. He was a member of the ICJ's Executive Committee from 2002-2004. From 2000 to 2006 he was a member of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yokota, Yozo 1940 births 2019 deaths American people of Japanese descent American legal scholars Deaths from pancreatic cancer Academic staff of International Christian University 20th-century Japanese lawyers Lawyers from New York City University of Tokyo alumni Academic staff of the University of Tokyo Columbia University faculty University of Michigan faculty World Bank people 20th-century American lawyers