SDF's Iraq mission must be scrutinized after ruling it's illegal
(From The Japan Times April 20 issue)

違憲判決後はイラク自衛隊派遣に監視の目を

The Nagoya High Court on April 17 ruled that the Air Self-Defense Force's mission in Iraq includes activities that violate the war-renouncing Constitution. It rejects the government's explanations concerning the dispatch of an ASDF unit to Iraq. Although the government says that the ruling does not bind its actions — because the constitutional issue was not addressed in the main part of the ruling — the political parties should deepen discussions on the ASDF's role in Iraq by fully considering the ruling. Now that the ruling has been made, it is the government's minimum duty to disclose additional information related to the matter.

The lawsuit was filed by about 1,100 people who asked for a halt to the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq and solatium payments for their psychological pain caused by the dispatch. Similar lawsuits were filed at 11 district courts, but the plaintiffs lost those cases. The Nagoya High Court's ruling is significant in that for the first time in 35 years, a court squarely dealt with the question of whether the SDF or its activities are constitutional.

But the high court turned down the plaintiffs' request for a halt to the mission and compensation. As far as the formality is concerned, therefore, the defendant, which is the state, is the winner. Nonetheless, the high court's decision concerning the constitutionality of the ASDF's Iraq mission will be finalized because the state, which won the ruling, cannot appeal the ruling and the plaintiffs decided not to appeal it.

In July 2003, the special law to allow the SDF to provide humanitarian support for Iraqi reconstruction was enacted. On the basis of the law a Ground Self-Defense Force unit was sent to Samawah in southern Iraq, but was withdrawn in July 2006. An ASDF unit composed of C-130 transport aircraft and about 200 ASDF members was sent to Kuwait. Initially the unit's transport mission was limited to southern Iraq. But later the ASDF flights were expanded to Baghdad and Arbil in northern Iraq.

The special law bans the SDF from using force and threats, and requires it to carry out its missions in noncombat zones. The high court ruling said that Baghdad should be considered a combat zone because killings and subversive activities take place there.

The ruling said that although the ASDF's transport mission does not constitute use of force in itself, transport is an important part of combat activities in modern warfare and the ASDF's activities constitute rear logistic support indispensable for the multinational forces' combat activities.

It concluded that the ASDF's transport mission includes activities that violate the special law's clauses prohibiting the use of force and activities in a combat zone, and Section 1, Article 9 of the Constitution.

The ruling said that the right to live peacefully is the basis of basic human rights and a right guaranteed by the Constitution, though it turned down the lawsuit on the grounds that the plaintiffs' right to live peacefully has not been violated in a concrete manner.

The ruling serves as a reminder that when Japan dispatches SDF units overseas, it should be done in strict adherence to the war-renouncing Article 9. It also strengthens the case that the government must disclose detailed information about the ASDF's activities in Iraq so that the Diet and people can scrutinize them.

名古屋高裁は17日、航空自衛隊のイラクでの活動について、戦争放棄をうたう憲法に違反する活動を含んでいる、との判断を示した。原告は約1,100人の市民で、イラクへの自衛隊派遣差し止めと慰謝料支払いを求めていた。名古屋高裁の判断は、自衛隊とその活動が違憲かどうかという問題に、この35年で初めて裁判所が真正面から取り組んだという点で意義がある。原告の求める派遣差し止めと慰謝料支払いは却下され、形式的には被告である国側が勝訴した形になったが、裁判所の違憲判断そのものは覆せない。勝訴した国は上告することができず、原告側は上告しない方針だからだ。

2003年にイラク再建を助けるため自衛隊派遣を可能にするイラク人道復興支援特措法案が成立。航空自衛隊は当初、クウェートを拠点にC-130輸送機による輸送活動をイラク南部で行っていたが、のちに活動をイラクの首都バグダッドや北部のアルビルにまで広げた。

イラク特措法は、自衛隊の武力行使を禁じ、活動を「非戦闘地域」に限定している。判決は、死者の続出するバグダッドを「戦闘地域」とみなした。また、航空自衛隊の空輸活動の中に、多国籍軍の武力行使を密接に支援する行為が含まれているとした。そして、その任務はイラク特措法と憲法９条に違反するとし、違憲判断を示した。ただし、原告側請求については、派遣によって原告らの平和的生存権が侵害されたとはいえない、と退けた。

この判決は、自衛隊の海外派遣は戦争放棄をうたう憲法第9条から逸脱してはならないということ、また、国会と国民が監視できるよう、政府はイラクの航空自衛隊の活動について情報を細かく公開すべきだということについて、注意を喚起するものだ。