Focus: Return of the Thought Police: Japan's new ‘anti-conspiracy’ law

Abstract

6 | International Union Rights | 24/3 FOCUS | FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Return of the Thought Police: Japan’s new ‘anti-conspiracy’ law Japan’s parliament has passed a controversial ‘anticonspiracy ’ Bill which critics say could be used to curb civil liberties across the country. The Bill has been criticised by trade unions and general public, as well as both the Japanese Bar Association and the United Nations Special Rapporteur. There are fears that the vague nature of the new law, which covers 277 crimes, will erode personal liberties in Japan by providing authorities with broad surveillance powers, leaving the question of who can be monitored open to interpretation. It was passed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition, which holds a majority in the Diet, the nation’s Parliament and comes at a time when workers’ right to freedom of expression is seen to be under attack in a number of quarters and state surveillance of trade union organisations is on the rise. False justifications On 15 June, Japan’s parliament ratified the controversial ‘anti-conspiracy’ Bill into law. Despite concerns by opposition politicians, citizens and even UN commentators about how the vague, ambiguous and dangerous nature of the Bill will affect ordinary Japanese citizens with no connections to organised crime, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s ruling coalition used every parliamentary trick in the book to cut off debate and ram the Bill through Japan’s bicameral Diet before a parliamentary recess starting on 18 June. Headed by Prime Minister Abe, Japan’s ruling coalition has argued that the new law is needed before the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, at a time when threats to national security are perceived to be on the increase. However this argument belies the fact that his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has tried for years to revise Japan’s existing Act on ‘Punishment of Organised Crimes and Control of Crime Proceeds’. The goal, according to the Japanese government, is to join the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. The Japanese government has suggested that conforming with UN conventions is the main motivation for creating the Bill. But two UN representatives have explicitly criticised the new law. Ever since the Meiji Period (1868-1912), treaties and pressure from other countries have been used to justify laws the Japanese people neither want nor need, so there’s nothing new here. However, in this case there hasn’t been any serious effort to articulate concrete deficiencies in existing laws – such as bad guys who got away because of them – that will be remedied by the new ones. In fact, I read the UN Convention and found no mention of a requirement to criminalise conspiracy, other than in connection with money laundering. The fact that a UN treaty is central to the justification for the new law might explain why the government seems particularly annoyed at concerns expressed by not one but two UN experts regarding the law’s potential for arbitrary use and infringement of civil liberties. In a letter sent to the Japanese government in May, UN Rapporteur Mr. Cannataci criticised the anti-conspiracy Bill, which was at the time being debated in committee before being passed into law.1 Cannataci raised concerns that the broad scope of the law may ‘lead to undue restrictions to the rights to privacy and freedom of expression’ in Japan. Specifically, Cannataci says that the law, which is ostensibly aimed at organised crime in Japan, does not precisely define what an ‘organised criminal group’ might be, while including 277 types of crimes that might be covered under the law. One example of a possible implementation of the law, Cannataci notes, is that it may legitimise and facilitate government surveillance of NGOs perceived to be acting against the government interest. Under the new law, it will be illegal to plan to commit 277 criminal actions, from arson to copyright infringement. Koichi Nakano, political science professor at Tokyo’s Sophia University, told CNN the new legislation ‘fundamentally’ changed Japan’s legal system. “Unless a crime is committed in Japan, you don’t get punished ... now if they think you are thinking of preparing to commit a crime, even before you’re arrested, you...