Foreword
Japan acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1979. Tus, for almost 35 years the country has had an obligation to respect the rights described in the ICCPR and to provide effective remedies to individuals whose rights are, have been, and will be violated. Te application of capital punishment in Japan is strictly limited by the ICCPR and related international norms, providing binding minimum standards which have to be applied in all countries that still impose capital punishment.
Te retention of the death penalty by Japan is not itself a breach of the ICCPR treaty. However, the treaty does assume that abolition of the death penalty will be the ultimate goal for all state parties. As a result of its accession to the ICCPR, Japan has been under an obligation to develop domestic laws and practices that progressively restrict the use of the death penalty pending its abolition.
Japan’s government has resisted calls to move towards abolition of capital punishment, mainly by relying on the claim that public support justifies its continued retention. But this claim has no bearing on the need to restrict the death penalty in accordance with the terms of the ICCPR and related international norms or on Japan’s obligations under Article 6(6) of the ICCPR to do ‘Nothing … to delay or to prevent the abolition of capital punishment’.
Tis report was commissioned by the Death Penalty Project in order to assess Japan’s legal obligations on the use of the death penalty under the ICCPR, and to examine the related subject of public attitudes toward capital punishment in Japan.
It goes without saying that public attitudes towards the death penalty need to be properly understood. Tis report provides a critical analysis of existing government survey evidence and presents alternative public opinion research showing that public support for the death penalty is neither as high nor as entrenched as Japan’s government claims. Tere also needs to be a proper understanding as to whether Japan conforms to its obligations under the ICCPR and binding international norms on the death penalty, and whether the law and practice of capital punishment protects the rights of those facing the death penalty in Japan. Tis report describes the many gaps that exist between the rights promised to all citizens in Japan, including those facing execution, and the actual practice of capital punishment.
It is hoped that this report will produce greater understanding of the issues at stake and serve as a guide to policy-makers and people engaged in the debate about capital punishment in Japan.
Saul Lehrfreund MBE and Parvais Jabbar MBE Executive Directors, Te Death Penalty Project February 2013
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