No. 1287 Law to Save Victims Suffering from Misconducts of Unification Church
The extraordinary parliamentary session ended on Saturday, closing with its shortest debates on the bill. It was rare to hold a weekend session to adopt a law. On the following day newspapers in the country reported about the legislation to save victims who were ruined by the Unification Church, or the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, with a photo of the two victims who watched developments sternly in the venue of plenary session of the House of Councilors.
LAW WITH MANY LOOPHOLES MUST BE REVISED AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE
At the wake of shooting at Ex-Prime Minister Abe
Criminal acts committed by the anti-social group have been concealed for decades, which was brought to light at the wake of the shooting which killed the former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. The incident has disclosed ugly connections between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Church, the appalling monetary damages on the victims by being forced, with threatening tactics, to purchase goods and donate huge amounts of money to lead to serious consequences. The misconducts, however, are only a tip of iceberg.
Requests have arisen broadly across the country to enact a law in an urgent manner to save the victims, and so, the government led by Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, which is in a lame duck stage due to the drop in the approval ratings for his cabinet, has managed to legislate on the final day of the session. It had made concessions on key issues with the opposition camp as its coalition partner, the Komeito, was not cooperative.
Debates on the bill lasted only 24 hours in total in both of the two Houses, though it had taken long time to compile and agree with among the ruling and opposition parties following the decision in the Cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Kishida rejected the demand of the opposition bloc to extend the session period to hurry up its closing, because three of his ministers had been obliged to resign in a month. He feared of further accusations against the rest of his Ministers who have had something wrong in their careers.
Can the law save victims?
The new law prohibits six types of malicious solicitation for donations. When an organization compels its followers to make debts so as to donate, which violates the new law, and does not obey the order of the government, the party will be punished with penalty of imprisonment up to one year or a fine up to one million yen.
The law also allows the party’s dependent children and spouses to request the cancelation of the donations and payback of the amount, including living expenses, on their behalf through legal procedures. As for a clause on mind-control (or brain-washing) during a solicitation period, which the opposition camp had claimed to ban, the law specifies as ‘obligation to consider’.
The law is a product of compromise. Families of the victims questioned in a painful tone whether the law could save them. Can the law effectively work? The proposal to review the law in three years was altered as ‘two’, and it will be implemented in the first days of 2023. The new act must be verified and reviewed as early as possible.
The group of lawyers who had worked to save the victims of the malicious donations issued a statement on December 10, the day of legislation, disapproving that ‘the crucial points have not been cleared ultimately’.
The statement says: (1) the law is unlikely to save victim’s family effectively, (2) possibilities to save victims by the administrative measures are left opaque, (3) the application range of prohibited acts and their kinds are limited, and (4) donations to individuals are excluded from banning. In another words, the law has loopholes.
Concerning the Unification Church issue, a lot of problems remain unsettled at the moment; close connection with the ruling LDP in terms of arrangements in political cooperation, the change of naming of the Church during the term when Mr. Shimomura Hirofumi served as Minister of Education, and the practices of adoption of children among the religious supporters which contradicts the fundamental human rights.
安倍銃撃事件で
何十年にもわたって隠されてきた反社会団体の犯罪が白日の下にさらされたのは、安倍晋三元首相の銃撃事件だった。自民党と旧統一教会の闇の癒着、霊感商法や高額寄付による被害の凄まじさ・深刻さなど浮き彫りになった。だが、氷山の一角に過ぎない。
被害者救済法の新設が焦眉の課題となり、支持率低下でレイムダック状態の岸田内閣は新法に後ろ向きの公明党に足を引っ張られ、野党に譲歩を重ねながら最終日の成立に青息吐息でこぎつけた。
法案策定に手間取り、閣議決定した法案が与野党協議で修正され、衆参合わせて24時間の審議という拙速さだ。岸田文雄首相が会期延長を求めた野党を振り切って閉会を急いだのは１カ月に３人の閣僚が辞任に追い込まれ、すねに傷持つ閣僚らの更なる追及を恐れたからだ。
「救えるのか⁉」
救済新法は、「霊感」を使った悪質な寄付勧誘を「６ 類型」で禁止。寄付のために借金させるなど禁止規定に違反し、国の措置命令に従わない場合は１年以下の懲役や１００万円以下の罰金など刑事罰を設けた。
扶養されている子どもや配偶者も、寄付者に代わって生活費など将来受け取るべき分を返還要求できるとした。野党が「禁止」の条文化を求めたマインドコントロール（洗脳）による勧誘行為は、「配慮義務」とした。
「妥協の産物」の救済新法には、被害者家族から「これで救えるのか」といった悲痛な声が上がった。実効性が問われているのだ。３年後見直し案は２年となったが、年明とされる施行後は早期に検証し見直すべきだ。
被害者問題に取り組んできた全国霊感商法対策弁護団は新法成立の12 月10日、「重大な不足点は最後まで解消されなかった」とする批判声明を発表した。
その内容は、①家族被害救済が図られない、②行政処分による救済可能性が不明のまま、③禁止行為等の範囲、適用対象が狭い、④個人への寄付が対象から外れている、などというものだ。つまり、「ザル法」なのだ。
旧統一教会の問題は、まだまだ解明しなくてはならない問題が山積みだ。自民党との政策協定、下村博文文科相時代の名称変更、人権無視の養子縁組などだ。
英訳版↓
No. 1287 Law to Save Victims Suffering from Misconducts of Unification Church
The extraordinary parliamentary session ended on Saturday, closing with its shortest debates on the bill. It was rare to hold a weekend session to adopt a law. On the following day newspapers in the country reported about the legislation to save victims who were ruined by the Unification Church, or the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, with a photo of the two victims who watched developments sternly in the venue of plenary session of the House of Councilors.
LAW WITH MANY LOOPHOLES MUST BE REVISED AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE
At the wake of shooting at Ex-Prime Minister Abe
Criminal acts committed by the anti-social group have been concealed for decades, which was brought to light at the wake of the shooting which killed the former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. The incident has disclosed ugly connections between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Church, the appalling monetary damages on the victims by being forced, with threatening tactics, to purchase goods and donate huge amounts of money to lead to serious consequences. The misconducts, however, are only a tip of iceberg.
Requests have arisen broadly across the country to enact a law in an urgent manner to save the victims, and so, the government led by Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, which is in a lame duck stage due to the drop in the approval ratings for his cabinet, has managed to legislate on the final day of the session. It had made concessions on key issues with the opposition camp as its coalition partner, the Komeito, was not cooperative.
Debates on the bill lasted only 24 hours in total in both of the two Houses, though it had taken long time to compile and agree with among the ruling and opposition parties following the decision in the Cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Kishida rejected the demand of the opposition bloc to extend the session period to hurry up its closing, because three of his ministers had been obliged to resign in a month. He feared of further accusations against the rest of his Ministers who have had something wrong in their careers.
Can the law save victims?
The new law prohibits six types of malicious solicitation for donations. When an organization compels its followers to make debts so as to donate, which violates the new law, and does not obey the order of the government, the party will be punished with penalty of imprisonment up to one year or a fine up to one million yen.
The law also allows the party’s dependent children and spouses to request the cancelation of the donations and payback of the amount, including living expenses, on their behalf through legal procedures. As for a clause on mind-control (or brain-washing) during a solicitation period, which the opposition camp had claimed to ban, the law specifies as ‘obligation to consider’.
The law is a product of compromise. Families of the victims questioned in a painful tone whether the law could save them. Can the law effectively work? The proposal to review the law in three years was altered as ‘two’, and it will be implemented in the first days of 2023. The new act must be verified and reviewed as early as possible.
The group of lawyers who had worked to save the victims of the malicious donations issued a statement on December 10, the day of legislation, disapproving that ‘the crucial points have not been cleared ultimately’.
The statement says: (1) the law is unlikely to save victim’s family effectively, (2) possibilities to save victims by the administrative measures are left opaque, (3) the application range of prohibited acts and their kinds are limited, and (4) donations to individuals are excluded from banning. In another words, the law has loopholes.
Concerning the Unification Church issue, a lot of problems remain unsettled at the moment; close connection with the ruling LDP in terms of arrangements in political cooperation, the change of naming of the Church during the term when Mr. Shimomura Hirofumi served as Minister of Education, and the practices of adoption of children among the religious supporters which contradicts the fundamental human rights.
December 21, 2022