A step in the right direction

ジュネーブ条約追加議定書

Last month, the Diet approved the government's plan to ratify the protocols. These will take effect for Japan six months after the government deposits the instruments of ratification with the Swiss government, which serves as the secretariat. As of June 25, 161 countries were parties to the first protocol, which extends protection to victims in international armed conflicts; and 156 to the second protocol, which applies to victims in non-international armed conflicts such as civil wars.

Japan is a party to the four Geneva Conventions. These are formally known as the (1) Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick of Armed Forces in the Field; (2) Convention for the Amelioration of the Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea; (3) Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War; and (4) Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.

All four treaties include a common clause (Article 3) that applies to non-international armed conflicts. This humanitarian article sets restrictions, for example, on the use of modern weapons and abusive activities by combatants. The protocols were added to cover other localized conflicts such as struggles for national liberation.

The first protocol, which was designed to protect non-combatants, stipulates, among other things, that belligerents must exercise restraint in selecting their methods of fighting as well as types of weaponry, and that they must limit their attacks to military targets. The second protocol, which covers non-international armed conflicts, prohibits abuse, hostage-taking and acts of terrorism against non-combatants; conscription of children under 15; and forced evacuation of civilians (except in certain situations).

Why is Japan only now accepting the protocols? The answer has to do with Article 9 of the nation's pacifist Constitution, which prohibits the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes. The article has essentially ruled out the involvement of the Self-Defense Forces in military conflicts abroad. Because of these limits on the SDF, the government had not given serious thought to ratifying the protocol agreements. In 1999, however, a domestic committee on international humanitarian laws was created to conduct a detailed study with government and Red Cross officials.

The need for ratification has necessarily increased in recent years as the SDF's roles abroad have significantly expanded, as illustrated by the dispatch of SDF units to Iraq earlier this year. Now that SDF troops have joined the multinational force led by the United States and Britain following the handover of Iraqi sovereignty to the Iraqi people, there is a greater possibility that they could get involved in armed conflict. The United States and Britain, as well as Iraq, are parties to the four conventions. Therefore, all three are bound by the humanitarian principles contained therein — especially Britain, as it is a member of the twin protocols.

Realities in Iraq demonstrate how difficult it is to abide by these principles. The use of force by U.S. and British forces has involved activities that legal experts say could constitute treaty violations — such as the bombing of media facilities and missile attacks on private residential areas. Those responsible for these activities, they say, could be prosecuted by international courts.

The world today is fraught with conflict, but it is no longer the lawless world that it once was. With Japan acceding to the protocols, the United States is the only major industrialized country that has not yet accepted them. Some Americans, though, argue that the United States should withdraw from the Geneva Conventions. That would be a dangerously unilateralist course that we hope is avoided at all costs.

Any nation's international standing will surely increase if it complies with humanitarian principles. Plainly, Japan's ratification of the protocols represents a step in the right direction — a step that imposes an international obligation on the nation to deal with armed conflicts and acts of terrorism from humanitarian as well as criminal standpoints.

The Japan Times Weekly
July 10, 2004
(C) All rights reserved

      国会は先月、ジュネーブ条約の追加議定書の批准を承認した。日本政府はスイス政府に批准書を寄託し、その6ヵ月後に議定書加入が発効する。

      6月25日現在、国際的武力紛争の犠牲者を保護する第1追加議定書の締約国は161、内戦などの犠牲者に適用される第2追加議定書の締結国は156となっている。

      日本が加入しているジュネーブ4条約は、（1）戦地にある軍隊の傷者、病者の状態の改善(2)海上にある軍隊の傷者、病者、難船者の状態の改善（3）捕虜の待遇(4) 戦時における文民の保護に関する合意だ。

      全条約は、内戦などに適用される共通の第3条を含む。この条文は、戦闘員による近代兵器の使用や、虐待などを制限している。

      第1議定書は、戦闘の方法、使用武器を規制し、攻撃を軍事目標に限ることを定めている。第2議定書は、非戦闘員に対する虐待、人質戦術、テロ行為、15歳以下の児童の徴兵、住民の強制退去を禁止している。

      議定書批准の背景には、自衛隊のイラク派遣がある。このほど、自衛隊が米英主導の多国籍軍に参加することになり、武力紛争に巻き込まれる可能性も出てきた。米英、イラクはジュネーブ4条約に加入しており、その人道的原則を守らねばならない。特に英国は、追加の両議定書にも加入している。

      しかし駐イラク米英軍は、条約違反とされる行為（メディア施設に対する爆撃や住宅地域に対するミサイル攻撃）を行っている。

      日本のジュネーブ条約追加議定書加入により、未加入の先進国は米国だけとなる。米国は条約から撤退すべきとの議論もあるが、これはどうしても避けるべき道だ。

      日本の議定書批准は正しい方向への第一歩である。武力紛争、テロ行為に人道面、犯罪防止面から対処するに当たり、議定書批准で日本は新たな国際的義務を負う。