Michael Yoshii

Michael Yoshii

Michael Yoshii is Coordinator of United Methodist Students at the Pacific School of Religion.

Rev. Michael Yoshii is Commissioner of the Philippine Election 2022 International Observer Mission (IOM) and is member of the ICHRP Global Council.

Bio

Verbatim from the Pacific School of Religion:

Rev. Michael Yoshii received his Master of Divinity degree in 1986 from the Pacific School of Religion and upon graduation served in the California Nevada Annual Conference as an ordained elder until his retirement in 2020. In his last years before retirement he served as the Co-Chair of the Order of Elders in the conference. Rev. Yoshii was a recipient of the PSR Distinguished Alumni Award in 2002 recognizing his pastoral leadership and social justice activism at the Buena Vista United Methodist Church where he was appointed to in 1988. This included work on local racial justice issues, LGBTQ equity, and affordable housing activism. In post-retirement ministry, Rev. Yoshii serves on the International Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) Global Council, and is Co-Chair of the Friends of Wadi Foquin, a partnership with a West Bank Palestinian village.

Prior to returning to PSR in 2020 as Coordinator of the United Methodist Students, Rev. Yoshii served for several years as adjunct faculty for the Field Education department and was on the Community Advisory Committee for the Pacific Asian North American (PANA) Institute housed at PSR until 2012.

2022 International Observer Mission

The Philippine Elections 2022 International Observer Mission (IOM) was established on the recommendation4 of the INVESTIGATE PH Commissioners in their 2nd and 3rd Report of the Independent International Investigation into Human Rights Violations in the Philippines, which was in turn established in response to the October 7, 2020, decision of the UN Human Rights Council 45th Session (Resolution No. 45/33),5 which was very disappointing to civil society. Its Commissioners are as follows:

• Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation
• Canon Barry Naylor, CHRP UK
• Severine de Laveleye, Ecolo/Groen Deputy, Belgium Parliament
• Lee Rhiannon, Former Australian Senator
• Michael Yoshii, ICHRP Global Council, USA
• Chris Ferguson, Former Secretary General, World Communion of Reformed Churches
• Xavier Cotillas Romero, President, Catalan Association for Peace