Delivering Voices from the Field to Make a Change
We are now witnessing the escalation of major violence all over the world, including the war in Ukraine and the crisis in Gaza. With the “Three Security Documents” (National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, Defense Build-Up Program), the idea of Japan becoming a nation able to participate in wars is being promoted. Through revising Japan’s Development Cooperation Charter, the Official Development Assistance (ODA) has been increasingly strategized from both the economic and military fronts. The newly introduced framework for granting arms assistance to other nations, titled “Official Security Assistance (OSA)” currently identifies 6 nations as target nations in the fiscal year of 2024.
Activities and Achievements in 2023
To stop the movement of “building a nation capable of war”
As the secretariat of the “NGO No War Network”, we created movements against OSA in cooperation with other organizations. In June, we released a statement and held a meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Diet Members’ Office Building, which was taken up in parliamentary questions. In November, we held another meeting, discussing the danger of military aid in consideration of the situations in the target nations, such as Bangladesh and Indonesia. This was also taken up by media reports. We released a statement voicing concerns regarding the rescue of Japanese citizens by the Self-Defense Forces at the outbreak of the Sudanese civil war. We lobbied the government and the Diet to seek a ceasefire in the Gaza crisis in Palestine.
Major statements released by JVC or by networks in which JVC participates
– “We strongly oppose the Official Security Assistance (OSA), a military aid that denies Japan’s non-military principles in international cooperation.” (Statement released by NGO No War Network on June 1, 2023)
– “We oppose overseas deployment of the Japan Self-Defense Forces – Was the protection of Japanese citizens by the Self-Defense Forces the only means of rescue?” (Statement released by JVC on June 26, 2023)
– We also released statements calling for action from the international community for a ceasefire in Sudan and released documents (jointly with other organizations) demanding the Japanese government to work on the ceasefire and so forth in Gaza.
Agreements for the statements by other NGOs and networks
– Opposing exports of lethal weapons
– Releasing of opinions on the government’s revision of the Development Cooperation Charter
– Asking for cessation of the ODA and the public fund projects that benefit the Myanmar Military
– Protesting against the designation of Kudaka-jima in Okinawa as a Monitored Area under the act regulating land use
Activity Plan for 2024
Policy proposal and research on issues connected with the development of natural resources in Africa
We will make efforts to stop Japan from moving toward war by working together with other organizations from the point of view of ensuring peace in East Asia, which our Korean project aims at. We will cooperate with the NGO No War Network in putting the brakes on the expansion of OSA. In addition, we will resume and release the research that was suspended in the fiscal year of 2023 on the infringement on villagers’ rights caused by the development of natural resources in Africa.
Voices and Messages
Learning about policy recommendation at the forefront
Kutsukake Satomi, 2023 Intern
Since I started to work as an intern last May, I participated several times as an operations assistant in meetings held inside the Diet and at press conferences, where we raised our concerns about OSA and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. I think policy recommendation is very important as the means of solving basic social problems. Therefore, it is a precious opportunity for me to attend the meetings where various relevant players from their positions meet, as it enables me to learn and consider the meanings and the reality of policy making.
“No!” to the militarization of the international cooperation
Imai Takaki, President
The OSA, which promotes the grant assistance of weapons to developing countries, has gotten less attention than the issues of doubling the defense expenditure and exporting arms. From our on-site experiences as an international NGO, we raised concerns that the proliferation of weapons could end up in conflicts and stressed this danger because the increased military abilities could affect civilians through civil wars and crackdowns. Little by little, the Diet members and media reporters have become more attentive toward OSA.
