By Mina Pollmann
A year after the state secrets law passed, what impact is it having on freedom in Japan?
On December 10, 2013, Japan passed a new state secrets law, even as thousands turned out to protest. The new law was criticized for its vagueness, severity, and lack of independent oversight.
One year later, on December 10, 2014, the controversial legislation went into effect, even as 80 percent of the Japanese public continued to oppose it.
Another year later – and no one is talking about it.
Perhaps that is a good thing. After all, it would mean that there have been no overt instances of the law being applied to the detriment of press freedom – or at least no instances that we know of. But complicit silence is harder to quantify, and as Sarah Repucci, Project Director of Freedom House’s Freedom in the World project points out, “Sometimes you don’t ever need to implement a law, if by its existence you are able to encourage self-censorship.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat