UN Chief’s remark on neutrality issue in the UN peacekeeping missions could influence Japan; Japan, China and South Korea are to strengthen information sharing system during nuclear crisis
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  • Reports noted that UN Chief Ban Ki-moon’s recent remark that while UN peacekeeping operations are impartial in principle, it might not be able to abide by that rule when civilians’ human rights are at stake, could largely influence Japan’s participation in such missions in the future. It is so, because, according to a law passed by Japanese Diet in 1992, impartiality is one of primary conditions that must be met for Japan’s deployment of troops in such missions. It is worth noting that recently the UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast had to face serious criticism due to its April 4 attack on military camps controlled by Laurent Gbagbo, president of the western African country. Ivory Coast is currently going through a political turmoil as Gbagbo has refused to cede power and accept the outcome of the elections held in November 2010. According to Ban Ki-moon, the peacekeepers had to launch attack in the interest of protecting the civilians as well as themselves. 1

    In another development, Japan, China and South Korea are reportedly in the process of formulating a framework for information sharing during a nuclear crisis. The plan is expected to be incorporated in the joint documents to be issued at the upcoming trilateral summit among the leaders of these countries on May 21 and 22, 2011, in Tokyo. Under this system, as and when an emergency occurs in one country, the status of the accident and government countermeasures will be reported to other two countries in order to maintain transparency. A joint declaration on this would not only refer to disasters other than nuclear and mention about joint precautionary and disaster response measures, but also might call for improving the countries domestic systems for strengthening the communication and information sharing networks in case of a disaster. 2

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