Statement of Protest

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Hon. Shinzo Abe Prime Minister of Japan Hon. Yasukazu Hamada Chairman of the Special Committee on Legislation […]

Hon. Shinzo Abe
Prime Minister of Japan
Hon. Yasukazu Hamada
Chairman of the Special Committee on Legislation for the Peace and Security of Japan
and the International Community of the House of Representatives

Statement of Protest

We, the Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace, strongly protest the steamrolling of security bills through the Special Committee on Legislation for the Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community of the House of
Representatives.

On June 27, 2014, immediately after the cabinet decided to allow the exercise of a right to collective self-defense, we announced a statement of protest beginning with the following sentences:

“For nearly 70 years since World War II, we have respected and taken pride in the Constitution of Japan, especially the Preamble that appeals for world peace and pledges permanent peace and Article 9 that stipulates the renunciation of war. Therefore Japan has not caused any deaths in war, either among Japanese or foreigners, during these years while international society has undergone incessant armed conflicts. However, your cabinet is trying to end this peaceful 70-year period by deciding to reinterpret the Constitution so as to permit the exercise of a right to collective self-defense.

It is absolutely unacceptable for one cabinet to decide to make such a reinterpretation which is against the basic principle of the Constitution. It is nothing short of a denial of constitutionalism.”

On July 1, 2014, however, your cabinet made a decision to permit the exercise of a right to collective self-defense without paying attention to our protest. In addition, the government proposed security bills consisting of 11 extremely momentous bills to the Diet on May 15, 2015, and steamrolled these bills through the Special Committee on Legislation for the Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community of the House of Representatives today on July 15, 2015.

Your cabinet stresses that a strong deterrent is indispensable for peace due to strained international relations. However, if the exercise of a right to collective self-defense is permitted, the tension among nations and risk of terrorism will rise, the arms race will be promoted and military forces can be used overseas following the government’s arbitrary decision.

It is against the Constitution to permit the exercise of a right to collective self-defense. This has been the Japanese government’s official stance for a long time. It is also the stance of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, which consists of all attorneys in Japan, and a majority of constitutional scholars in Japan. This nation’s legal framework, constitutionalism, will be destroyed by enacting this bill which puts in place the exercise of a right to collective self-defense. What remains after constitutionalism is destroyed is dictatorial domination.

“Peace is not merely the absence of war; nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies; nor is it brought about by dictatorship …. A firm determination to respect other men and peoples and their dignity, as well as the studied practice of brotherhood are absolutely necessary for the establishment of peace” (Gaudium et spes 78).

This is how we, the Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace, understand peace. The security bills which put in place the exercise of a right to collective self-defense is drastically opposed to our understanding of peace, because the bills will provoke hostility by heightening tension among nations, impel people to wage wars and open the way to dictatorship by destroying constitutionalism.

Therefore, we strongly protest the steamrolling of the security bills through the Special Committee on Legislation for the Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community of the House of Representatives, and demand that the bills be withdrawn and abandoned as soon as possible.

July 15, 2015

Bishop Taiji Katsuya
Chairman
The Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace

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