We denounce the arrests and detentions of participants in excessively policed demonstrations.

We denounce the arrests and detentions of participants in excessively policed demonstrations.

July 9, 2008

Network of Lawyers Observing Human Rights Around the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit (WATCH)

The "7-5 Challenge the G8 Summit Peace Walk for 10,000" was held on July 5 in the city of Sapporo, and in sharp contrast with the peaceful demonstration itself, a markedly excessive and aggressive police presence constituted a flagrant violation of human rights. All along the walk's route, plainclothes police security officers recorded and took pictures of demonstrators with cameras, and fully armed riot units stood in formation along both sides of the march to prevent average citizens from being able to view the demonstration.

Furthermore, in addition to pounding on a sound truck's glass window with batons, police dragged the man sitting in the driver's seat out of the vehicle and took him and a total of four individuals (one of whom is a reporter) to jail for interfering with official police duties or violating traffic laws.

The reporter was released on July 8, but on the same day the Prosecutor's unjust request for the other three to be held in detention at the Sapporo Regional Court was approved.

The Constitution safeguards citizens' rights to express opinions to others and others' freedom to access or receive those opinions. Toward that end, demonstration marches serve as inextricable pillars that support our right to assemble in a constitutional democracy and therefore must be cared for and protected, and any restrictions must be limited to the absolute bare minimum. However, the aforementioned excessive policing and unjust arrests ran roughshod over our right to freedom of _expression.

Therefore, we object to the arrests of the four individuals as significant violations of their constitutionally protected freedom of _expression, we strongly denounce the specifics of the arrests themselves, and we object to the decision to detain the remaining three and call for their immediate release.


[the groups approve this statement]
2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum
Hokkaido Peoples’ Forum on G8 Summit
G8 Action Network
Counter-G8 International Forum

We Urgently Denounce the Denial of Visas and Entry to Japan to Members of Civic Organizations and NGOs in Connection with the G8 Summit

We Urgently Denounce the Denial of Visas and Entry to Japan to Members of Civic Organizations and NGOs in Connection with the G8 Summit, and We Strongly Insist Again that Nothing Interfere with Opportunities for Members of Civic Movements to Exercise Freedom of Speech, Expression, and Assembly.

July 4, 2008

Network of Lawyers Observing Human Rights Around the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit (WATCH)

In response to the Hokkaido Toyako (G8) Summit, which is being held from July 7th through the 9th, many civic organizations and NGOs have planned seminars and international colloquia on problems related to the environment, peace, human rights, poverty, and development. However, over the past two days there have been reports of case after case of individuals connected to these civic organizations and NGOs who were scheduled to attend these events, but were refused visas to travel to Japan on site at embassies or denied entry to Japan at airports.

To the extent that we are able to stay on top of these developments, we have learned that over the past two days members of Bangladeshi NGOs were denied visas at the Japanese Embassy in Dhaka without any explanation regarding the reason.

Meanwhile yesterday at the Chitose International Airport, all nineteen members of a farmers' organization from Korea were denied entry on the grounds that they had no proof documenting their plans for their stay in Japan.

In addition to such developments, an individual with an international NGO based in the Philippines gave up on coming to Japan after delays in the visa issuance process, and it concerns us that similar visa delays and denials will continue with similar effects.

These members of civic organizations and NGOs received official invitations from civic organizations and NGOs in Japan, and many were scheduled to speak at seminars. Challenges and difficulties such as restrictions on visas without any particular reason or explanation provided on the grounds that the G8 Summit is convening or the draconian demand to produce proof documenting one's plans in order to be granted entry can only be understood as attempts to deprive citizens the opportunity to freely exchange and express opinions on the most pressing issues facing our world. Not only does this affect civic organizations and NGOs, but it also gives international society reason to lose trust in Japan.

We were in the midst of protesting the recently enhanced immigration restrictions imposed on scholars and reporters around the G8 Summit and now also call on the Japanese government immediately to halt the denials and delays of visas and entry to Japan to members of civic organizations and NGOs and ensure that nothing impedes the rights of citizens to exercise freedom of speech, expression, and assembly.

[the groups approve this statement]
2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum
Hokkaido Peoples’ Forum on G8 Summit
G8 Action Network

In Protest Over the Immigration Restrictions

In Protest Over the Japanese Ministry of Justice and Immigration Service's Unjust Restrictions on Members of Scholarly and Media Communities Attempting to Enter Japan and to Protect Freedom of Speech and Expression

Network of Lawyers Observing Human Rights Around the G8 Hokkaido Toyako
Summit (WATCH)

June 30, 2008

Eleven well-known international scholars scheduled to be panelists at the Counter-G8 International Forum being held in Tokyo from June 30 until July 1 have been detained at the airport and subjected to long hours of questioning. Several of these scholars were refused entry because their plans for the days between meetings were not clear. Later they were given special permission for entry with their planned time limit significantly shortened.

Meanwhile, many international journalists and media workers coming to Japan to cover events related to the G8 Summit continue to be held and questioned in a similar manner and for no particular reason at various airports.

These measures constitute the unjust immigration detention of scholars and media workers. This is not only an infringement on the expression of various opinions, feelings, and perspectives on the G8, it also has a profoundly chilling effect on investigative research and reporting.

Our network urges the Ministry of Justice and Immigration Services Bureaus of Administration to halt these unjust immigration screenings immediately and resume the usual screening practices in order to protect freedom of expression and intellectual freedom during the G8 Summit.

We strongly protest against the detention of the two activists of Greenpeace

June, 28th 2008

Lawyers' Network for Human Rights Observation around the G8 Summit (WATCH)

On April 20, 2008, Aomori Prefectural Police and Tokyo Metropolitan Police Public Security Division arrested two Greenpeace Japan activists for theft and trespassing. The activists are accused first of stealing a cardboard box that contained the meat of a whale harvested by a Japanese scientific whaling ship, and which had been stored in a delivery company in Aomori; and secondly they are accused of handing over the stolen whale meat to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office. The police also searched Greenpeace offices as part of their investigation.

According to the arrested activists, their act was not a mere act of theft or trespassing, rather it was intended as a denouncement of the embezzlement of whale meat by the crew of a scientific whaling ship financed with tax payers' money. Furthermore, the activists had already submitted a report in which they disclosed the details of their plan. Also they had declared that they were willing to appear at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office anytime. There was therefore no reason to suspect that they would conceal evidence or that they would flee; this removes the justifications for the detention of the two activists.

Despite this lack of legal premises for detention, the Aomori Prefectural Police and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Public Security Division are still detaining the activists, an act which is unjust, illegal and illegitimate.

This spectacle on the eve of the G8 Summit has provoked expressions of concern in different parts of the society. Both mass media and activists are concerned that the police intend to intimidate the whole civil movement. The evening paper of Niigata Nippo as of June 20th says: "It is disturbing that there could be a link between the arrests and the G8 Summit. The police behavior can be interpreted as a warning against radical civil organisations which do not refrain from illegal acts to achieve their aims. If this assumption is true, it is very alarming (...) The implementation of law should be strict, but with no political intentions."

It is clear that the police intend to intimidate the civil movement before the G8 Summit by carrying out disproportionate control, even if it means risking international protests on the eve of the Summit. The fact that the Public Security Police lead the investigation underlines this stance.

The arrest of the two activists is not only a human rights violation with regard to the unjustifiable arrest, detention and investigation, but also a challenge against the freedom of expression. Police repression against the activists' denunciation obstructs the legitimate activities of both Japanese civil society and international society and is therefore internationally unacceptable and subject to global criticism as an affront to humanity.

The Lawyers' Network for Human Rights Monitoring around the G8 Summit is concerned that this incident will obstruct the use of freedom of speech, the protest activities and the denunciation activities concerning crimes against public interest. It thereby strongly demands that free activities and free spaces granted in the Japanese Constitution de jure be guaranteed de facto.