12/16/2013, 00.00
JAPAN
Send to a friend

Japanese Bishops: Governments’ state secrecy law betrays the Constitution

The government has approved the controversial norm under pressure from the Liberal Democratic Party, which prevented a serious parliamentary debate. According to the Permanent Commission of the Japanese Bishops' Conference, “the manner and the contents of this law is an attack on the three pillars of our Constitution : popular sovereignty, respect for human rights and pacifism".

Tokyo ( AsiaNews) - The Special Law on State Secret is an "attack on the sovereignty of the people, respect for basic human rights and pacifism, the cornerstones of the Japanese Constitution . This is why we, the Japanese bishops, protest against its steamrolling and demand that similar laws never be proposed again".  This is the sense of the document signed by the Permanent Commission of the Bishops' Conference of Japan, made ​​public after the approval of the controversial decree - law.

According to the norm, passed after strong insistence by the Liberal Democratic Party in power in Japan, any issue defined "sensitive" by the government may be covered by state secrecy. In this way only government officials , and not Parliament, can deal with them. There will be no control by the Diet and every inquiry, journalistic or civil, may be interrupted for reasons of " national security".

The Japanese Church had already expressed its position against the norm before the vote, which took place on December 6. Following its approval, the members of the Standing Committee wanted to further underline: "The bill presents a danger of violating the three basic principles of the Constitution, namely the principle that sovereignty resides in the people, the respect of basic human rights and pacifism, as stated below. Such a significant bill must never be steamrolled without having sufficient discussion or offering convincing explanation. However, it was railroaded unilaterally by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and others by wielding majority power. We can never accept such conduct".

 The bishops point out that the subordination of Parliament to the government is "a contradiction of the democratic system in Japan. Moreover, the definition of ' sensitive issue ' is too ambiguous. A democratic decision-making system is based on the sharing of information, but this decree blocks the right of the Diet to investigate the facts.  By doing so undermines the right of the people to be sovereign".

Finally, the bishops stressed that "considering that this bill with such grave problems has caused much opposition and concern, it should have been determined only after hearing opinions from various fields and being carefully deliberated again and again. That is the way democracy should always be.  We strongly protest the recent hasty vote and demand that such steamrolling never be carried out again in the future".

 

TAGs
Send to a friend
Printable version
CLOSE X
See also
Democratic Party of Japan loses big in yesterday’s elections
12/07/2010
Ruling party defeated in by-elections, with support for Kishida plummeting
29/04/2024 17:11
Government change in Tokyo baffles politicians, worries ordinary people
07/06/2010
Japan turning the page, closer to the Church’s social doctrine
08/10/2009
Japan’s election, a revolution by young “assassins”
02/09/2009


Newsletter

Subscribe to Asia News updates or change your preferences

Subscribe now
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”