SDF activities in Iraq violate the Constitution: high court

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

SDF activities in Iraq violate the Constitution: high court

The Nagoya High Court in its ruling on April 17 said that there are unconstitutional aspects in the Air Self-Defense Force activities in Iraq.

The court said that Iraq is in a state of armed conflict, and thus the ASDF’s airlifting mission there is an act “integral to foreign countries’ use of force,” which runs counter to the Special Measures Law on Iraq and Clause 1 of Article 9 of the Constitution that prohibits Japan from participating in wars.

This suit was filed by 1,122 residents of Aichi Prefecture. They have demanded that the SDF deployment in Iraq be suspended because it violates the Constitution.

Although the high court said that the ASDF activities in Iraq are illegal, it stopped short of confirming that the deployment of Self-Defense Force units per se is unconstitutional.

It instead recognized that the right to live in peace is a “constitutional right” as stated in the Constitution’s preamble. It stated, “People have the right to seek redress from courts if they are forced to assist or cooperate in wars that run counter to Article 9.”

Similar lawsuits have been filed in ten other courts throughout Japan. A total of 5,700 plaintiffs together with more than 800 lawyers are demanding an injunction against SDF dispatches to Iraq by claiming that they are unconstitutional. The Nagoya High Court was the first to declare that the ASDF’s airlifting mission in Iraq is unconstitutional.

Legal team of Nagoya suit

The plaintiffs lawyers in the Nagoya lawsuit in a published statement welcomed the ruling as epoch-making and the most excellent in the history of constitutional politics. They urged the Japanese government to “pull the SDF out of Iraq without delay based on the Nagoya High Court ruling.”

JCP

Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji said, “The government argued that ‘the aim of SDF dispatches to Iraq is humanitarian reconstruction assistance.’ However, that argument has been rejected. The JCP has maintained that ‘SDF dispatches to Iraq contravene Article 9 of the Constitution.’ This position has been corroborated by the courts. We will continue to demand the immediate withdrawal of the SDF from Iraq.”

Legal team of the Sendai suit

The legal team of another lawsuit filed with the Sendai District Court said that the Nagoya High Court decision would put brakes on undemocratic trends in the courts. “It is significant for the right to live peacefully to be recognized as a fundamental right and that the ASDF’s airlifting mission is judged as illegal at a time when some people are trying to interpret Article 9 less strictly,” they said.

Clause 1 Article 9 of the Constitution

The Japanese Constitution’s Article 9 stipulates: “Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.”

- Akahata, April 18, 2008