By Mina Pollmann
The state secrets law, passed despite public opposition, provides little oversight or accountability.
On December 10, Japan’s new state secrets law went into effect, a year after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government legislated it into being over strong public opposition. Thousands turned out to protest the bill when it was being negotiated in the Diet, and even now, 80 percent of the Japanese public opposes the law. In the days leading up to its enactment, the Japan Congress of Journalists, Japan Civil Liberties Union, Japan Federation of Commercial Broadcast Workers’ Unions, and several Japanese moviemakers issued statements condemning the law.
The Abe government has pushed forward despite the opposition for a number of reasons. The 2010 leak of video footage showing the clash between Chinese and Japanese ships in the East China Sea may have made the government rethink the importance of protecting information that could be damaging to regional diplomacy. Another important impetus for the new law is the need to share sensitive information with the U.S. and other governments. The U.S. has always been concerned with the laxness surrounding protection of security information in Japan, and heartily welcomed the new law. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy stated last December, “We support the evolution of Japan’s security policies, as they create a new national security strategy, establish a National Security Council, and take steps to protect national security secrets.”
Yet outside the U.S. government’s positive reception, the law is attracting negative international attention. When it was being negotiated in the Diet, Lucy Birmingham, President of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan condemned the bill (PDF), stating, “The current text of the bill seems to suggest that freedom of the press is no longer a constitutional right, but merely something for which governments must ‘show sufficient consideration.’” Reporters Without Borders and the UN Human Rights Council have also expressed concern. A clamp down on information is a worrying trend in Japan, as Japan dropped 31 places to rank 53rd out of 179 countries from 2012 to 2013, according to the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
Read the full story at The Diplomat