Mr. Anand Grover, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, visited Japan for 10 days in November 2012. He surveyed the health condition of residents in towns close to the plant in the wake of the accident of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant by interviewing nearby residents, nuclear plant workers, members of civil society organizations, local government officials, medical college doctors, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) officials, and those of related government agencies. He also did radiation dose monitoring around monitoring posts, schools or housing areas.
In May 2013, Mr. Grover submitted his report to the 23rd session of the UN Human Rights Council and urged the government to adequately respond to problems including health management of residents, risk of thyroid cancer among children, low dose exposure, health risk among nuclear plant’s workers, the incapability of the TEPCO in information dissemination, and so on.
Meanwhile, the government did not accept the recommendations made by Mr. Grover by criticizing some of them as either “un-scientific” or “have already been done.”
One of the major factors that have accelerated the damage on health rests with the government’s relaxation in setting criteria of radiation dose. Despite the criticism raised in and out of the country, the government has maintained the lower level. Article 8 of the Act on Protection and Support for the Victims of Nuclear Power Plant Accident of June 2012 defines the "scope of area to be covered for support" as those areas with the level of radiation dose below the one stipulated by the government, but above a certain standard, without indicating a specific level.
The recommendations made in the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review of Japan held on November 2, 2012 included one that urged the government to take adequate protection for the health of residents of Fukushima Prefecture and to make arrangement for interviews between the Special Rapporteur (Mr. Grover) and the victims and members of civil society organizations. The issue was also raised during the review of Japan by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) and by the Human Rights Committee in May 2013 and July 2014, respectively. CESCR expressed its concern over the health conditions and living conditions of victims of the nuclear accident, especially those of the vulnerable including the elderly, the disabled, pregnant women and children. The Human Rights Committee expressed its concern over the difficult situation of the residents in the areas heavily contaminated by the radiation who had no option but to return to their town without any official assurance of its safety. It is also expected that the forthcoming review of Japan by the CEDAW in February 2016 will focus on this issue and urge the government to implement the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur.