Strongly Protest Sexual Assault of Okinawan Girl by U.S. Soldier

 

米兵による沖縄の少女への性的暴行事件に強く抗議する

https://kokuminrengo.net/2024/07/27/post-8771/#more-8771

 

Strongly Protest Sexual Assault of Okinawan Girl by U.S. Soldier

2024/7/27 

　Last December, a young girl under the age of 16 was abducted and sexually assaulted by U.S. soldiers from the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture.
　The Okinawan people were never informed of this incident. The incident came to light in a news report in June, six months after the incident. There was widespread anger among the residents of the prefecture at the cover-up by the Japanese and U.S. governments. Furthermore, the revelation that there had been four other incidents since the beginning of this year has further heightened the anger.
　Protests, including mass rallies by prefectural residents, including Governor Denny Tamaki, are spreading. On July 10, the prefectural assembly unanimously passed a resolution to “strictly protest. Municipal assemblies have also passed resolutions of protest.
　We share the anger of the people of the prefecture and will support them in their struggle.
　Furthermore, at his first trial on July 12 at the Naha District Court, the U.S. soldier stated, “I am innocent. How did the girl spend the six months following the vile act in December? For a girl who has suffered unbearable mental and physical pain and has been deprived of her dignity as a human being, the actions of the perpetrators who justify themselves and claim innocence are tantamount to inflicting double or triple suffering on her, blaspheming her, and denying her very existence.
　Such arrogance is nothing but a manifestation of the U.S. military's sense of occupation and discrimination against Japan. It also brings into stark relief the subservience and humiliation of the Japanese government, which cannot defy the US.
　We will never forget the 1995 gang rape of an elementary school girl by three U.S. soldiers. The Okinawan people showed their outrage at a prefectural convention of some 100,000 people to protest this barbaric act. This historic convention was attended by many Okinawans, young and old, men and women, from all parts of the prefecture, regardless of their political beliefs.
　Both the U.S. and Japanese governments were so dismayed and shaken by the anger that they promised to return the Futenma base the following year. However, during the past 30 years, incidents and accidents, including sexual assaults by U.S. soldiers, have occurred constantly and repeatedly. This is nothing but the result of the discriminatory concentration of U.S. military bases only in Okinawa.
　The press has pointed out the complicity in the cover-up, saying that “the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are reluctant to announce the incident” in our country. On June 23, Prime Minister Kishida attended a memorial service for all the war dead without a second thought.
　We must never allow such a tragedy to happen again. To this end, it is only natural that the public opinion of the people of the prefecture should grow that the U.S. military bases must be removed, not to mention measures to prevent a recurrence and a fundamental revision of the Status of Forces Agreement between Japan and the United States.
　We strongly protest against the Japanese and U.S. governments for ignoring the Okinawan people's demand that their prefecture not become a battleground again, for fomenting a “Taiwan contingency” and strengthening the military, and for allowing the incident and accident to continue. We demand that our government take a firm stand against the U.S. if it claims to be an independent country. We strongly request that the government apologize to the girl, compensate her, and provide her with psychological care.
　We call on the entire nation to mobilize public opinion and develop the protest struggle, regarding the anger of Okinawa as our own.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

 

２０２４年７月
自主・平和・民主のための
広範な国民連合

https://kokuminrengo.net/2024/07/27/post-8771/#more-8771

 

 

 

「民営化」という名の「私物化」

齋藤知事が居座るなら罷免

 

　現行の公益通報者保護制度の最大の弱点は、この制度が元々、消費者保護を目的とした消費者行政の延長線上にあり、行政の健全な運営を担保するための制度ではないことだ。そのため管轄官庁も消費者庁になっている。無論、消費者保護は重要だが、行政機関の健全な運営のためには、現行の公的通報者保護制度を強化するか、もしくは消費者保護とは切り離した形で、行政機関を対象とする新たな公的通報者保護制度を定める必要があるのではないか。

https://www.videonews.com/disclosure_discovery/22

 

「憲法に三権分立があるにもかかわらず、立法府で議論すべき問題を行政府がどんどん決めている」