Japanese and U.S. governments are unwilling to protect Japanese citizens' human rights -- Akahata editorial, August 2
The Japan-U.S. talks which have been held in the wake of the rape of an Okinawan woman by a U.S. soldier will end soon, but the Japanese government shows no intention of demanding that the Japan-U.S. negotiations on the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) be "revised" or that its application be "improved".
The United States has reportedly threatened Japan saying it would reject calls for "improvement of application" of SOFA unless U.S. officials are allowed to attend U.S. soldier interrogations by Japan's police investigators. The Japanese government is reported to have tried hard to accommodate the U.S. demands.
Japan's failure to request the revision of the humiliating SOFA and its agreement to give U.S. soldiers more privileges in the name of "human rights" protection only increases the danger of human rights violations of Japanese citizens.
Japan has failed even to call for betterment of SOFA applications
The recent Japan-U.S. talks on SOFA were ostensibly aimed at "improving the application of SOFA", and the two countries had been obliged to discuss the issue amid calls increasing among a broader spectrum of the people for SOFA to be revised and growing criticism of the Koizumi Cabinet for rejecting the demand.
SOFA is the source of all sorts of the U.S. forces' high-handedness over the people, including crimes by U.S. servicemen, noise pollution from U.S. aircraft, and environmental destruction. Upper and Lower House special committees recently adopted unanimous resolutions calling for SOFA to be revised.
In Okinawa, where U.S. military bases are concentrated, serious crimes by U.S. personnel, such as sexual assaults, arson and hit-and-runs occur constantly. The most urgent task is to revise SOFA to end the clause allowing the U.S. forces to refuse to hand over to Japanese authorities U.S. soldiers who are suspected of crimes.
The Koizumi Cabinet makes no complaints about the U.S. refusal to agree to hand over suspects before indictment using SOFA as the pretext, and even makes proposals precisely in accordance with U.S. demands. This is nothing but Japan's submission to the United States.
Defense lawyers' presence at investigators' questioning session is necessary to prevent forced confessions obtained behind closed doors. If the government thinks so in the case of U.S. soldiers, why doesn't it allow all suspects, regardless of their nationalities, to have defense lawyers with them during interrogation sessions?
The Koizumi Cabinet is trying to expand privileges of U.S. forces in Japan on the grounds that the need is to protect human rights for U.S. soldiers, while it completely ignores human rights violations against Japanese citizens.
Disregarding its urgent task being to protect the human rights of the Japanese people, including Okinawans, from being violated by U.S. forces as well as their bases in Japan, the Japanese government is preoccupied with the U.S. demands without defending its own rights.
The extraterritorial rights of U.S. forces are closely related to the increasing crime rates, thus threatening the lives, property, and safety of Japan's citizens.
Do not allow lawless acts of U.S. forces
Overbearing acts of foreign military forces should not be allowed to interfere with protecting the sovereignty of Japan and citizens' human rights.
The Koizumi Cabinet' failure to claim Japan's rights on behalf of its citizens at the negotiations clearly shows how its subordination to the United States contradicts what the people want.
In order to prohibit U.S. forces' arbitrary behavior and secure the citizens' living conditions, it is necessary to call on the government to demand the revisions of SOFA. (end)