New Law on Somali Piracy Has Intention	No.623 February 24, 2009
		The Aso government prepares to send troops of the Maritime Self Defense Forces (MSDF) in the name of controlling piracy off the coast of Somalia and is planned to issue a mobilization order early March. The government is to apply Article 82 of the Self Defense Forces Act to justify the policy, on which the legislative objective cannot work. Furthermore, the government is to enact a new law to control piracy. DON’T LET GOVERNMENT LEGALIZE USE OF WEAPONS ABROAD! Defense Minister Hamada gave an order January 28 to the fleet stationed in Kure Base, Hiroshima, for preparation. The ministry is scheduled to issue a formal order for mobilization early March after month-long preliminary activities; it will deploy destroyers ‘Sazanami’ and ‘Samidare’ as well as two of P3C anti-submarine patrol aircraft to commit in operations to defend ‘relevant vessels’ off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden in late March. Article 82 of the Self Defense Forces Act permits mobilization of SDF when a criminal incident is beyond the control of the Japan Coast Guard in the territorial and adjacent waters of Japan. In the two occasions the article has been applied; one in the water off Noto Peninsula, the Sea of Japan, when an unidentified vessel was detected and in the southwestern territorial water when a Chinese submarine was seen. Deployment of maritime troops to the waters off Somalia, 8,000-kilometer far from Japan, clearly breaches the law’s aim. The defense minister, however, has demanded as ‘a precondition’ to submit a bill on piracy to the Diet before the mobilization order. The government works busily on presenting the new bill. The new piracy law will approve ‘deployment of SDF at any time and any water of the world’ and legalize ‘use of weapons in the context of duties’, which has not been admitted because the concept conflicts with Article Nine of Constitution. The bill may also contain provisions to allow the SDF to join military operations with foreign troops as well as defend foreign ships. Government Seeks Chance to Use Weapons Piracy is an act to be controlled by the Coast Guard. The government explains that maritime police officers will be aboard the destroyers and they will inspect suspicious vessels and arrest suspected persons, adding that weapons will be used in the limited occasions of emergency and legitimate self-defense. The special force, called Special Patrol Troops of MSDF, will be sent, however, to fight when pirates resist with arms: bloodshed and shooting and sinking vessels can be ordered. Under the Anti-Terrorism Special Act the SDF are allowed already to use weapons in self-defense against ‘those persons under control of SDF soldiers’. It can be assumed that pirates might be suppressed in the context that they are in control of SDF during missions of the fleet. In other words, weapons could be practically used to fulfill duties in the maritime patrol activities. Legitimate self-defense can be conveniently produced and justified since nobody watches on the seas. If a new law is enacted to allow the SDF to use weapons and join military operations with foreign troops, the MSDF could openly exert to arms on the world’s seas and enjoy a possibility to enter the collective defense right, which is prohibited by the constitution. The government supposes in the next stage to legislate on the permanent basis, not to approve a tentative special law, in order to dispatch ground, air and maritime troops for overseas missions in which they could use weapons. Government’s Justification The ruling bloc interprets that pirates are private criminals who do not belong to a state or a state-like body and that use of weapons does not conflict with the constitutional principle. Somali pirates, however, can be mixture of part of the provisional Somali government, insurgents or armed groups trained by the British forces or other nations and local fishermen. Media reports say that fishing resources are abused by foreign fishing boats and that dangerous wastes are dumped illegally in the nearby waters. These acts torment local people. The government insists of ‘safety of international sea lanes’ or ‘commitment of China’. Don’t let the government break Article Nine with these excuses.