Judicial barriers to inclusive education as a human right: An analysis of relevant legal cases in Japan

Article 24 of the CRPD guarantees inclusive education as a fundamental human right. In Japan, the education policy has shifted from a segregated education to an inclusive one with the ratification of the CRPD. However, recent lawsuits on children with disabilities and their school placement/attendance reveal such policy changes are not reflected in practice. In this article, we reviewed notable court cases in Japan to investigate how Japanese courts interpreted the reform of the legal system. We divide the article into two parts: Firstly, we describe the history of Japanese education reform. Secondly, we discuss the court cases with regard to Japanese education system reform and the schooling of children with disabilities over three time periods. Our findings show that the court continues to make judicial decisions based on the old notion of segregated education and fails to recognize or even understand that inclusive education is a fundamental human right.