Background
Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution renounces war as a means
of settling international disputes and prohibits the maintenance of armed forces
and other war potential. Article 9 is an international oath declaring No to War,
a
shared property of all the world’s citizens who wish for peace.
Today, however, the Japanese government is moving towards amending Article 9,
partly due to the U.S. demand for full-fledged military support from Japan in
its “war on terror”. Despite the restrictions of Article 9, Japan’s
Self-Defence Forces have gradually expanded over the years, bringing Japan’s
military expenditure to one of the highest in the world, and they provided support
to U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The move to amend Article 9 for the worse gathered speed during former
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s tenure. In September 2006, Abe announced he
would seek a constitutional revision within five to six years. In
May 2007, the Japanese Diet passed legislation to hold a national referendum to
revise the constitution and amend Article 9. Although Abe is no longer in power,
Article 9 related debates have
continued to inflame Japanese politics, especially around the renewal of the Anti-Terrorism
Special Measures Law, which has authorized the Maritime Self-Defense Force to
refuel US vessels in the Indian Ocean for their operations in Afghanistan. In
light of the difficulty to renew this bill, some government officials are calling
for a permanent law to dispatch Self-Defense Forces overseas whenever necessary,
a move perceived as a first step towards amending Article 9.
As the debate over revising the Constitution has accelerated, Japanese
civil society has increasingly mobilized.
In 2005, Japan-based international NGO Peace Boat, together with
the Japan Lawyers' International Solidarity Association (JALISA), launched the
Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War. This campaign strives not only to protect
Article 9 locally, but also to
build an international movement supporting Article 9 as the shared property of
the world, calling for a global peace that does not rely on force.
With support of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC),
the Japan Organizing Committee of the Global Article 9 Conference was launched
in January 2007. This group comprises representatives from well over 60 Japan-based
civil society organizations, including peace, religious and women groups, academic
and medical institutions, legal associations and unions.
Global Impact of Article 9
Indeed, Article 9 is not just a provision of the Japanese law; it also acts as
an international peace mechanism towards reductions in military spending, promotion
of nuclear-weapon-free zones, ending violence against women, supporting conflict
prevention, and mitigating the negative environmental impact of the military.
International civil society organizations have recognized the global impact
of Article 9, including its relevance in regards to human rights, disarmament,
nuclear weapons abolition, conflict prevention, development, the environment,
globalization, UN reform and other global issues.
[To read more about Article 9's global scope, click here.]
At the regional level, in July 2005, the UN-convened Global Partnership for the
Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) submitted an action
agenda for North East Asia that declared that "Article 9 of the Japanese
Constitution has been the foundation for collective security for the entire Asia
Pacific region."
Likewise, in December 2007, the Asia Inter-Religious Conference on Article 9 and
Peace in Asia brought together religious leaders from all over Asia, Europe and
the US, and issued a final statement
calling on religious circles to support our campaign and encourage participation
in the Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War in May.
At the international level, a strong international network of individuals
and NGOs has formed in support of the campaign. And a growing number of groups
continue to join, from the anti-war movement in the US, to organizations working
for peace in Africa or the Middle East, NGOs lobbying for disarmament in Europe
and women's group acting worldwide.
[For a list of international individual
and institutional supporters, click here.]
As a major part of this campaign, the large scale “Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War” was held in Japan from May 4-6, 2008. With the participation of Nobel Peace Laureates, intellectuals, cultural figures and NGO activists from over 40 countries, the three-day conference attracted over 33,000 participants nationwide to discuss and have a dialogue on the role that citizens of the world can play to realize the principles of Article 9, through promoting disarmament, demilitarization and a culture of peace.
[To read more about the Global Article 9 Conference, click here]
The world today remains threatened by the continuation of violent conflicts, the
proliferation of arms, and environmental destruction. Within this situation, Article
9 paves the way for the adoption of non-violent alternatives to dealing with such
international crises. This movement thus demonstrates that Article 9 is not merely
a domestic Japanese issue; rather, it is one of immediate international relevance.
Objectives
This growing international movement of support makes clear that the world does
value Article 9 as an ideal to which all people aspire, as a model to follow.
In a world where the chain of violence and war continues unbroken and militarization
is gathering speed, the existence of Japan’s Article 9 provides encouragement
to those who work towards a peace that does not rely on force. Article
9 gives hope – hope that an other world is possible.
The Article 9 Campaign demonstrates
the active value of Article 9 and proposes ways to realize its potential. To that
end, the Campaign links Article 9 to other international norms and institutions,
notably the United Nations, whose Charter calls for decreases in military expenditure
and the reallocation of limited resources to solving poverty and to protecting
humans from war and violence.
Over the years, the Global Article 9 Campaign has built alliances and partnerships with a growing number of movements that act towards the same goal, notably the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, Nobel Women's Initiative, International Peace Bureau’s Disarmament for Development Campaign, Freres des Hommes’ Disarmament to Combat Poverty Campaign, and the New York-based NGO Working Group on Disarmament, among many others.
Inspired by the 1999 Hague Appeal for Peace's call that "every Parliament should
adopt a resolution prohibiting their government from going to war, like the Japanese
Article 9," and the 2006 Vancouver World Peace Forum's declaration that calls
“for governments to constitutionally renounce war (e.g. Japan's Article
9)”, we are urging global civil
society to
spread the "No War, No Military" message
and lobby their governments to include this concept in their own countries' constitutions.
|
HOME
| what's
article9 | about
campaign | global
scope | supporters
| conference
| voices
| support
article9 | resources
| organizers
