At an online seminar on October 5, the Foreign Press Center of Japan invited Ambassador Takeshi Akahori to discuss the outcomes of the UN General Assembly High-level Week, including the SDG Summit held at the end of September 2023 and the concept of human security as a key to achieving the SDGs.

Ambassador Takeshi Akahori - Assistant Minister, Director-General for Global Issues, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (Screenshot from the online seminar).

Explaining the human security concept, Ambassador Takeshi Akahori said that the shared understanding of member states in the UN resolution in 2012 about human security is that it calls for people-centered, comprehensive, context-specific, and prevention-oriented responses, to strengthen the protection and empowerment of all people and all communities.

"Human security is an approach which focuses on all individuals and encourages the creation of a prosperous and sustainable society through protection and empowerment of the individuals, in order to protect people from wide-ranging threats to their lives, livelihoods, and dignity, and to realize their full potential,", he said.

The promotion of efforts based on the concept of human security in the new era is one of the three pillars of Japan’s UN diplomacy, announced Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in September 2022 at the General Debate of the UN General Assembly.

The Prime Minister emphasized taking initiatives through the UN Trust Fund for Human Security would advance Japan in cooperation with the United Nations to realize human security in the new era.

Also, at the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week, Kishida once again emphasized “human dignity” as the core principle that underpins solidarity throughout the international community. He then called for action by the whole international community to support low-income and vulnerable countries that currently face the greatest difficulties, and to this end, address the issue of the gap in development finance.

"The concept of human security, which Japan has been advocating, is key to achieving the SDGs based on "human dignity", said Kishida.

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida spoke at the G7 Hiroshima Summit 2023 (Photo: The Japan Times).

As 2023 is the midpoint for the SDGs, the Japanese government plans to revise the SDGs Implementation Guiding Principles, a mid-to-long-term national strategy for achieving the SDGs. The highlights of Japan's climate action include the efforts to achieve the Paris Agreement goals, namely to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 46% in the fiscal year 2030.

Over the past years, the Japanese government also has many financial assistance projects to developing countries in addressing climate change issues. There is a loan project in the Philippines for the Pasig-Marikina river channel improvement and a project for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction in Fiji. In Vietnam, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment has chosen to conduct renewable energy projects as part of its Financing Programme for Joint Crediting Mechanism in 2021. The project provides renewable energy generated from a solar PV system built in selected provincial areas across the country.

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