Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2015 July 1 - 7 [POLITICS]

SDF personnel may face criminal charges if they accidentally kill someone in battle

Akahata ‘current’ column

The risk of members of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces “killing” and being “killed” has been a focus of discussions at the Diet regarding the “security” legislation which will send them into combat zones if enacted.

Present-day combat often takes place in urban areas. In Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, a large number of civilians were killed in mistaken shootings and bombings. The SDF personnel may become involved in such “unintentional” killings as well.

As it stands now, who is to blame for accidentally killing civilians or friendly forces will be the SDF member himself, not the government of Japan, Isezaki Kenji, professor at the graduate school of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, pointed out. At a House of Representatives special committee meeting on the security legislation on July 1, the professor said as an unsworn witness that SDF personnel involved in accidental kills would be most likely charged with “professional negligence resulting in death”. A system of court-martial exists in many foreign countries. However, Japan cannot bring the SDF member in question to trial because the establishment of a military court is prohibited under the Constitution. Until now, the relevant law has been limiting overseas dispatches of the SDF to only “non-combat zones” in order to minimize the risk of dispatched SDF members. The war legislation will totally change the name of the game.

SDF members may think that they do not mind dying for the sake of the country or their beloved families. Now, what if the government sends them to a battlefield which has nothing to do with Japan and passes the entire responsibility onto them?

The ruling parties are intending to use their majority to pass the draft war legislation through the Diet this month. With a mountain of issues left undiscussed and unresolved which include SDF personnel’s legal status, it is completely out of question to enact the legislation.