Human Rights Council 62th Session
Item 3: ID on the report of the SR on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience
Hello.
My name is Yoshiko Nishi. I am a second-generation member of the Unification Church in Japan.
For me, the church is not just a place I go. It is where my life happened.
It is where I learned my values, found my husband, raised my children, and found a community that welcomed me like family wherever I lived.
On March 4 of this year, all that was taken away.
After the Tokyo High Court upheld the dissolution order against our church, liquidators arrived at all churches across Japan within hours. I was at my local church when lawyers entered and told us to leave immediately.
Without warning, we lost our place of worship, our community, and the support system that had shaped our lives. We were deprived of our right of assembly and association all at once, and of our right to pray together in a place of worship.
Also, what hurts me most is what this has done to my children.
Our church has been portrayed in the media as if it were some criminal organization.
Please help protect families and faith communities like mine, so that we may live according to our faith and please protect other peaceful associations from arbitrary dismantling by the Japanese government.
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