Last December I was fortunate to attend a meeting of the Committee to revise the Universal Declaration of Human Rights cosponsored by UNESCO, held in Valencia, Spain. Present at this meeting were many world leaders in the areas of humanitarian efforts and the uplifting of the human condition. It was my privilege to participate beside people such as Judge Goldstone from South Africa, Bernard Kouchner, the French Minister for Health and Humanitarian Action and founder of Medecins sans Frontieres, Wole Syinka, the Nobel Laureate for Literature, and many others.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, enacted in 1948, is a set of principles to improve the status and living standards of people, especially those of the minority, such as women, children, indigenous people and refugees, from the various perspectives of human rights. During the past 50 years, many UN agencies under the umbrella of ECOSOC, such as UNESCO, UNDP, UNHCR, UNEP, UNV, etc. as well as many NGOs have actively worked to promote the protection of human rights in the light of this Declaration. However, the participants of the Committee meeting in Valencia were not fully satisfied with the past efforts to protect human rights. The outcomes of our discussions emphasized that it is our duty and moral responsibility to protect human rights as stated in the Declaration. The experience of participating in this Committee raised for me a question "What is the duty and responsibility of Japan or Japanese people in the efforts to improve human conditions?"

It has been 13 years since I became parliamentarian. One of my main concerns during my political career has always been the issue of ODA. The reason why I have been so interested in ODA goes back to my childhood.

When the war ended, I was only a child. I watched Japan grow to be an economic giant, rising from the ashes. Of course this growth was the result of good leadership, and the hard work of the people. But I remember the assistance that Japan received during the rebuilding years which was a key element in our return to the road of prosperity. We should never forget what we received from the United States and other countries and international organizations. We are now able to extend the same kind of help to others less fortunate than we.

Growing up in Japan and having lived in America and Europe, I have seen the application of certain basic tenets or guiding principles that, I feel, should and do govern human conduct. These are the rules that we learn growing up and that serve to govern our actions throughout our adult lives. These are the ideals of (a) fairness; (b) reciprocity; and (c) basic human decency. Just as these ideals shape how we individually deal with each other, so, I believe, should these same principles govern how our respective countries deal with each other.

Especially in the recent world shift toward globalization, I believe these 3 basic principles are very important for people to live harmoniously in any part of the world. Extension of these fundamental rules across the national borders must be the very essence of ODA.

Japan has become a leading donor of foreign aid. This is a great achievement we should be proud of as Japanese, and Japanese Government is continually trying to improve the quality of ODA. Yet, it has been criticized for many reasons including the very motivation behind our actions. There may be other explanations for why Japan is extending the kind and level of assistance found in our ODA. Many may question what are our various and many different kinds of motivation. Some have said that we are only compensating for past actions during the war and there is no heart in our provision of ODA. Others have said it is self-serving and our ODA money does not reach the people in need. Certainly this has been a very sensitive issue and viewed with varying levels of distrust from many of our neighbors. However, regardless of these criticisms, I feel and am very pleased that Japanese ODA has grown both in terms of amount and quality.

We have worked within the Japanese Government to set forth guidelines or standards for the application and use of ODA. As a result, ODA Code was enacted in 1992, which specifies the 4 kinds of assistance that Japan will support. They are: (1) the recipient country must not use ODA for military purposes or to promote international conflict- no aid to countries with large military outlays; (2) the recipient country should have a democratic or representative form of governance; (3) the use of this aid must be environmentally friendly; and (4) basic human needs must be the focus of the assistance provided. This, I feel, is a wonderful development and as a donor country, we should follow these 4 principles in provision of ODA.

Last year, I was a member of the Sub-Committee of International Cooperations set up in the Upper House of the Diet, in which we discussed about wide range of issues of Japanese ODA. During the meeting, one of the members expressed a view that in his constituency, it is very difficult for him to explain the necessity of giving ODA to poor countries, when people in the constituency themselves would rather receive that money instead of giving it out to far and unfamiliar countries. This sentiment is especially strong now that the economic and financial situation in Japan is so bad that many people wonder why we should give that much money to other countries without spending it on recovery of our own economy.

If we stop and honestly think about it, each of us can feel the injustice of being born poor. As a citizen of the world, I believe that Japan has a duty and moral responsibility to share what we have acquired with the developing and poorer people of the world. I believe that we can not allow the poor to stay that way. It is one of my personal goals to work to enable all people to realize their dreams and aspirations. ODA is one way we can help in achieving that goal, but we must remember that there are duties and responsibilities that come as part of the package.

The assistance that we give is in truth the money of our citizenﾕs - tax money - and as such the use of this money must be governed by the principles that govern all of government's expenditures. The spending of this money should be governed by the principles of "good governance". The guiding principles of good goverance being: 1. efficiency, 2. effectiveness, 3. transparency and 4. participation.

So if the concept of good governance is practiced in management and implementation of Japanese ODA, then Japanese people would feel more familiar with how their tax money is actually used in development aid and may more easily understand its necessity. Therefore, I believe that it is the duty and responsibility of donor countries to incorporate the concept of good governance into its practice of foreign aid.

At the same time, donor countries should also have responsibility to expect that recipient countries make use of aid money in an effective, efficient, accountable, transparent and participatory manner. Donors, especially Japan, have been reluctant to address issues of governance in connection with foreign aid for fear of being seen as interfering in internal affairs of the recipients.

It is imperative that the recipient countries also practice good governance. That is to say that the receiving country must have in place the mechanisms to monitor the effectiveness, and efficiency of the aid implementation. The government must be accountable for how it spends its money and have a transparent and open system for monitoring such expenditures. Open information sharing is an integral part of this kind of system. The process for implementing the aid projects should reflect the democratic and participatory nature of all government decisions. Without these kind of controls it is difficult to know if the ODA is contributing to the well-being of the people it is targeted to affect. Without this information, continued support may evaporate and the availability of funds diminish.

I would like to close my speech by emphasizing that I believe it is our duty and moral responsibility as a citizen of the Earth to pay tax in the form of ODA to poorer countries, and for this purpose, principles of good governance must be an integral part of ODA both in donor countries and recipient countries.

Thank you for letting me share my thoughts with you on this important matter.