| Part I. | THE REVISION OF THE “ODA CHARTER” AND JAPAN’S NEW APPROACH |
The revised ODA Charter includes “Principle of ODA Implementation,” which basically adheres to the section entitled “Principles” in the original ODA Charter. Below explains the concepts behind the continuation of the principles, including also the status of implementation of the principles.
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The revised ODA Charter basically adheres to the content of the
section entitled “Principles” in the original ODA Charter. This is
because Japan believes that the basic concepts of the principles in the original
ODA Charter and the four points advocated in the principles remain valid and
important today.
“Environmental conservation and development should be pursued in tandem”
is a concept parallel to the idea in the Basic Policy that “great attention
will be paid with respect to factors such as environmental and social impact
on developing countries of the implementation of ODA.” The concept of “Any
use of ODA for military purposes should be avoided” has been formulated
based on Diet resolutions since the 1970s and it is, in other words, that Japan’s
assistance must not be used for military purposes in the recipient country.
“Full attention should be paid to trends in recipient countries’ military
expenditures” originated with the outbreak of the Gulf Crisis in 1990 and
is a concept based on the viewpoint that it is important for developing countries
to give priority to development rather than the military when allocating funds,
in order to effectively utilize the limited resources. “Full attention
should be paid to democratization and human rights, etc.” is based on the
concept that democratization and respect for human rights are universal values
in the international community and it is important to promote respect for these
values in recipient countries. These concepts basically continue to remain valid
today.
The basic concepts underlying the principles in the original ODA Charter are
that implementation of assistance should be based on the four points but when
the principles are applied, thoughtful decision-making taking into account the
concrete situation is necessary. In other words, when favorable movements in
relation to these four points, in particular the item stating that “full
attention should be paid” to trends such as trends in military expenditure
and the promotion of democratization in developing countries, are seen in a
developing country, Japan will proactively support those movements through assistance
for the development efforts of the developing country (positive linkage). On
the other hand, when unfavorable movements are seen, such as the overthrow of
the government in a military coup d’état or a decline in democracy,
Japan will apply diplomatic approach, such as calling for the recipient country
to improve the situation, and after carrying out a comprehensive assessment
of each situation, is to review assistance for the country (specifically, timely
and appropriate measures will be taken, including suspension of assistance).
These points are deeply related to domestic political issues in the recipient
country, such as security, the political system, economic policy, etc., depending
on Japan’s approach, there is a risk that it could result in an adverse
effect, for example, it could lead to isolation of the recipient country from
the international community. So in pursuit of its goals, Japan is taking the
approach of tenaciously appealing to the recipient country through persuasion
based on diplomatic efforts. On such occasions, it is important to take a medium
to long-term view, be aware of movements and trends over a certain period of
time in the developing country and to respond to them in a timely and appropriate
manner. In addition, assistance taking into account the variety of the situation
and socio-economic conditions of the recipient country is necessary. Therefore,
when actually implementing the principle, it is a mistake to establish an across-the-board
standard and to mechanically apply it. Rather, it is essential to consider the
situation in the recipient country, including the background and a comparison
with the past, etc. and to carry out a comprehensive case-by-case judgment.
When applying the principle, humanitarian consideration for the people of the
developing country is necessary. In cases where Japan suspends (reduces) assistance
to the recipient country based on the principles in the ODA Charter, it is the
ordinary people of the developing country, and in particular the impoverished
people, who received the severest impact. Therefore, in developing countries
where trends that are clearly unfavorable in relation to the principles in the
ODA Charter have occurred, it is necessary to consider the impact on the lives
of the people and give special consideration to the implementation of emergency
and humanitarian assistance. Based on this idea, Japan will continue taking
into account the socially vulnerable people in developing countries, for example
by “suspending assistance except for assistance with an emergency or humanitarian
character.”
The basic concepts when applying the principles of the original ODA Charter
above continue to remain valid today.
As stated above, in the revised ODA Charter, the principles are basically retained
but some modifications have been made to look ahead to the future and to provide
assistance appropriately. From the perspective of “review of the so-called
request based approach,” one of the focuses in the ODA Charter review,
the expression “developing countries’ need for assistance” replaces
the expression “recipient country’s requests” in the original
ODA Charter. The revised ODA Charter states assistance is to be implemented
by comprehensively taking into account socio-economic conditions and Japan’s
bilateral relations with the recipient country, etc. Also, in addition to developing
countries’ need for assistance, reflecting the fact that currently terrorism
and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are important issues that
the international community faces and represent a major threat to the security
of Japan, a more appropriate expression was employed for the passage “maintain
and strengthen international peace and stability” in the original ODA Charter.
In the revised ODA Charter, the phrase “In line with the philosophy set
out above” has been added to the beginning of the “Principle of ODA
Implementation” section. This means that when thinking about “Principle
of ODA Implementation,” it is also necessary to properly take into consideration
the entire ODA Charter and in particular the part of philosophy in the ODA Charter.
When discussing the status of implementation of the “principles,”
because only specific projects that present a problem in the relationship with
the “principles” often tend to attract attention, people sometimes
misunderstand that only these kinds of specific projects are subject to application
of the “principles,” but actually from the implementation of individual
projects to the formulation of policies concerning economic cooperation, essentially
all ODA activities are implemented in compliance with the entire ODA Charter
including the “Principle of ODA Implementation.”
Although there are minor modifications in the revised ODA Charter
compared with the original ODA Charter, the basic concepts when applying the
“Principle of ODA Implementation” are unmodified from the basic concepts,
when implementing the “Principles” from the time of the original ODA
Charter, and continuous implementation has been taking place. Below is an outline
of a few specific cases in which application of the “Principle of ODA Implementation”
became controversial but the explanation also includes cases in which the “Principles”
from the time of the original ODA Charter were applied.
After it was discovered in December 2002 that Yemen was importing
Scud missiles, etc. from North Korea, Japan, in relation to the ODA Charter,
strongly appealed to Yemen to deepen its awareness and understanding of the
ODA Charter, which stipulates that full attention should be paid to trends in
import of arms, etc. In response to this, the Yemeni government promptly replied
that it understood Japan’s concerns and that there would be no repeat of
the incident.
Japan intends to continue to work to deepen the awareness and understanding
of the Yemeni government about the concepts of the ODA Charter. Concerning economic
cooperation, Japan examines it after a comprehensive assessment of a variety
of factors such as Yemen’s response toward the recent arms importing issue,
the socio-economic conditions in the country, the role of Yemen in the fight
against terrorism, etc. Under this policy, in fiscal year 2003, Japan is implementing
“The Project for Construction of School Facilities of Basic Education”
in grant aid and other projects as support for the basic human needs (BHN) area
that directly benefits the people, in order to support Yemen’s fight against
terrorism and development efforts.
Cambodia has been working to reconstruct a stable state since the achievement of peace in 1991 and has held general elections in 1993 and 1998. The new government, led by Prime Minister Hun Sen and inaugurated in 1998, is also working for democratization and reconstruction after peace has been achieved and, describing itself as an economy-oriented administration, and is advancing fundamental reforms including public administration and judicial areas.
With the awareness that maintaining a stable administration is necessary in order for Cambodia itself to advance democratization and reconstruction after peace has been achieved, Japan is encouraging the Cambodian government to make sincere efforts at reform and is actively providing assistance for democratization and reconstruction.
A general election was held in Cambodia in July 2003. This election had a special
importance as the first general election carried out by Cambodia itself without
any involvement by the UN. Japan extended disbursement of about $2.26 million
for voting equipment and logistics for the general election and grant assistance
for grassroots human security projects of about $136,000 for the operations
of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Japan also contributed to the steady
implementation of elections in Cambodia, for example, by dispatching a Government
Election Observation Mission for the General Elections in Cambodia.
The situation about abuse of human rights in Sudan was appalling
from the second half of the 1980s to the early 1990s. Even though the international
community, including Japan, repeatedly appealed to Sudan to improve the situation,
no changes in the approach of the Sudan could be seen. So it suspended all assistance
in principle, except for assistance with an emergency or humanitarian nature.
Since that time, Japan has provided emergency and humanitarian assistance through
international organizations including the World Food Programme (WFP), United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Taking into account the situation in
Sudan, however, since there are internally displaced persons due to the long-running
civil war, an influx of refugees from neighboring countries, etc., Japan introduced
grant assistance for human security projects to Sudan from 1999 and is providing
assistance through NGOs that are engaged in health care, support for refugees,
etc. As a part of Japan’s efforts to encourage improvements to the human
rights situation, Human Rights dialogues have been held with Sudan three times.
The Government of Japan and the Government of Sudan co-organized a symposium
with UNICEF in Khartoum in August 2003 as part of efforts to eradicate Female
Genital Mutilation (FGM), which was agreed within the framework of the dialogues.
Sudan had been subject to UN sanctions restricting its diplomatic activities
since 1996 as a suspected supporter of terrorism. However, at a Special Meeting
of Security Council in September 2001, the sanctions were terminated. Based
on this development, Japan ended the suspension of the issuance of visas to
holders of official Sudanese passports but maintains its former policy on economic
cooperation.
Peace talks between the Government of Sudan and the anti-government forces have
been in progress since July 2002. In order to promote peace, Japan is assisting
a project “Revitalization of Agricultural Productive Capacities in Post-Conflict
Zones by Promoting Participation and Community Building for Good Security and
Poverty Alleviation” through the Trust Fund for Human Security, which is
being implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization
(UNIDO). Promotion of peace of Sudan itself is in line with “consolidation
of peace” one of the pillars of Japan’s foreign policy. Japan has
been proactively calling on Sudan to achieve peace in cooperation with the international
community.
Along with continuing to promote peace talks and improvements in the human rights
situation in Sudan, Japan considers future economic cooperation comprehensively
assessing points such as the progress of the peace talks and improvements in
the human rights situation, and bilateral relations, etc.
Japan’s economic cooperation to Myanmar has in principle been suspended since the military regime came to power in 1988 but in 1995, reflecting the improvements to the situation, such as the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of the National League for Democracy (NLD) from house arrest, the Government of Japan decided to consider and implement ongoing projects at the time and projects that would directly benefit the people of Myanmar by addressing their BHN, on a case-by-case basis while monitoring democratization and the improvement of human rights.
Since January 2001, there have been movements by the Government of Myanmar toward democratization and the improvement of the human rights situation. Political detainees such as members of the NLD were released and lifting of restrictions on the movements of Daw Suu Kyi. However, in May 2003 the authorities placed Daw Suu Kyi and some people related to NLD in protective custody and shut down the NLD headquarters, etc. (subsequently, in September 2003 Daw Suu Kyi was transferred home).
Right after the above incident occurred, Japan has been concerned about the situation and has called on the Government of Myanmar to immediately release Daw Suu Kyi and others. Currently Japan is demanding the immediate assurance of the freedom to political activities of the NLD including Daw Suu Kyi. Also, in response to the presentation of the “Roadmap” for democratization by the Government of Myanmar in August 2003, Japan is persistently calling on concrete advances to be made in national reconciliation and the democratization process.
Concerning economic cooperation, in light of the situation in Myanmar since
the incident of May 2003, basically no new projects are being implemented but
highly urgent and humanitarian projects are sequentially implemented after being
carefully and individually considered.