Japan Press Weekly

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2014 July 16 - 22 [POLITICS]

Don’t fall into the same debacle as Italy reinterpreting Constitution to send troops abroad

Italy provides an example of a possible consequence of Prime Minister Abe’s decision to send Japan’s Self-Defense Forces abroad by changing constitutional interpretation, an Akahata correspondent reported on July 17.

Italy was Japan’s close ally during WWII. Article 11 of Italy’s post-war Constitution stipulates that Italy rejects war as a means for settling international disputes. Since 1991, however, with a continuous expansion of constitutional interpretation, consecutive Italian governments have been sending military forces abroad and intervening in outside conflicts under the pretext of humanitarian aid, contribution to peacekeeping operations, and recovery assistance.

At the end of 2001, Italy began dispatching its troops to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. In 2011, 4,700 Italian soldiers participated in the ISAF, the third-largest number of troops deployed, following the U.S. and Britain. Since the dispatch, 54 Italian soldiers have been killed.

A parliamentarian of the Left-Eco-Freedom, one of Italia’s left-wing parties, said to the Akahata correspondent that in order to justify the dispatch of military forces to Afghanistan and Iraq under Article 11, the government explained that the Italian troops will join peace operations like reconstruction aid, not military operations.

The term of Italian troops’ dispatch to the ISAF will expire at the end of this year. The Italian government, however, plans to continue to station roughly 800 military staff in Afghanistan after 2015 under the pretext of helping the Afghan government to increase its security capability.

The Akahata reporter found that more and more Italian citizens are urging their government to examine the nation’s commitment to the ISAF missions, and that along with the military casualties, the dispatch cost of 600 million Euro (82 billion yen) under severe financial conditions has provoked increasing public criticism.