The current situation in the later U.N. member state, South Sudan, is yet to be improved. The international organization has put the aid issue among its goals and has demanded the provision of help from the rest of the international community.
More specifically, last month U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon asked Japan to consider sending military engineers to the nation in order to fulfill the efforts that have been made until now. Even though Japanese Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa (who occupies this position since the presidence of former Prime Minister Naoto Kan) was reluctant to offer immediate help due to the past events that have struck the Asian country, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has finally acceded to dispatch Ground Self-Defence Forces in South Sudan to take part in the U.N. peacekeeping mission.
Now that two area studies have been made in the region, Noda's Cabinet has stated that these forces will be involved in road construction (huge lack in the state) and also in road construction related to bridge work, as well as work in other areas such as Bor in the future.
Everything points to the dispatch of the forces in the beginning of the new year, if everything goes as expected.
Japanese new Prime Minister seems to be struggling in order to cope with all the stress that the management and the decision-making of a country must provide. Not only he has to bear with the whole nuclear accident situation and its consequences (which are still on the main domestic policy framework today), but also try to keep up with the race Japan is up against-a race at all levels with the rest of its neighbours, such as China or Russia- and at the same time fulfill its duties as a U.N. member state.
According to one of the ius cogens principles that appears in the Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations, every member state will provide with help to the organization in any kind of action or mission that this may carry out in accordance with the Charter. All the members must cooperate in order to achieve and maintain peace as part of their obligations and rights.
This is probably the main reason why even if the Japanese government has other issues to solve at the moment, it yet has to contribute to achieve a better world where peace is present and the international community keeps on developing.
Former Singaporean Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, was famously quoted
ReplyDeletein 1991 by the international media saying “letting the Japanese re-arm for UN
peacekeeping operations in Cambodia is like giving liquor chocolates
to an alcoholic”.
In 2003, a new reform allowed the SDF to be involved in humanitarian assistance for the first time on a war zone, in Iraq, even though its involvement was restricted to a relatively safe area of the country. Japan´s intentions as a member of the international community have, as evident, been one of self-concern. However, to maintain a permanent seat in the UN´s security council, and therefore form part of the international identity, Japan has had to finally accept the notion of reciprocity. This entails that Japan must accept the international consequences of its actions rather than the national by denying international aid and that for the UN to reciprocate such actions with a permanent place in the international community Japan must first abide by UN rules and seek to help other international players when asked to do so.
I agree with Henar. Japanese government is having difficulties when it comes to military deployment for international aid. There is a lot of pressure on it. First, it is constrained by the non-military values of post-World War II Japanese society, reluctant to intervene in international affairs involving deploying troops. Besides, it needs to show the international community that Japan is willing to fully participate in these kind of operations, especially when it desires to obtain a seat in the UN Security Council. Due to these two constraints, which draw to opposite directions, Japan represents an extraordinary case in International Relations.
ReplyDelete