TOKYO, Jul 11 (NNN-NHK) – The assembly of Japan’s southernmost prefecture, Okinawa, yesterday, unanimously passed a resolution and a statement, protesting a series of recent sexual crime cases involving U.S. troops stationed in the prefecture.
In the resolution, addressed to the United States, including U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, the assembly condemned the cases as “extremely malicious crimes, that trample on human dignity” and expressed “anger from all our bodies.”
The prefectural assembly said that, behind the cases were “problems with the organisational awareness of human rights,” and called on the U.S. side to present residents of Okinawa with concrete and effective measures, to prevent a recurrence, such as a tightening of discipline.
The assembly also adopted a written statement, directed at the Japanese government, including Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, urging the central government to quickly share information about such crimes with the Okinawa prefectural government.
Both the resolution and statement call for fundamental revisions to the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, noting that, it affords special treatment to U.S. military personnel in Japan.
A delegation of assembly members will go to Tokyo to visit the U.S. embassy, the Foreign Ministry and elsewhere, to directly pass on the documents as early as this month.
The move by the prefectural parliament of Okinawa follows the recent revelation that, a U.S. Marine member has been indicted on charges of non-consensual sexual intercourse, resulting in injury, and a U.S. Air Force member for allegedly kidnapping a girl under the age of 16, and committing non-consensual sexual intercourse.– NNN-NHK
