Topic: Violation of Human Rights by Anti-Terrorist Mechanisms

Country: Japan
Committee: Human Rights
Name: Roberto Silva
University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus
One of the biggest problems that affect the world in the 21st century is the scourge of
terrorism. Terrorism is defined as the use of violence for political aim; the practice has surged,
with groups such as ISIS taking over territory in the Middle East and launching terrorist attacks
on civilians in cities around the world. The nations that have stood and decided to fight against
terrorism have used various methods in order to combat it; however the fight against terrorism
has brought the debate on how to fight it. Many methods of fighting terrorism like torture,
government surveillance, drone strikes and breaking judicial laws have broken several human
rights laws and restricted the freedom of people around the world. These tactics have often
increased terrorism, not decrease it, since these methods have often been used by terrorist groups
as propaganda to oppose governments and inspire recruiters. The nations of the United Nations
have to come together and find better methods of combatting terrorism.
Ever since the defeat of Imperial Japan in 1945, Japan decided to become a pacifist
nation, forever renounce war and instead focus on peaceful international relations. Japan has not
been attacked in its own borders by any terrorist organization during the 21st century. However
on January of 2015, Haruna Yakawa and Kenji Goto were beheaded by ISIS. This action forced
Japan to increase its role in the fight against terrorism. Japan has started to commit resources in
helping other countries sustain refugees and deploy logistical assistance in the fight against ISIS.
Japan, because of its lack of experience and its limitations in using the military because of
Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, has not been able to be in the frontline of fighting
terrorism, it has used advice by other nations to fight terror more efficiently. Japan understands
that to fight terrorism, we cant just use offensive measures but preventive measures in order to
slow down the expansion of terrorism.

Japan proposes a solution called The Kyoto Act, an act that will be composed of
international standards to fighting and preventing terrorism. In the aspect of fighting terrorism,
The Kyoto Act would improve interrogation techniques that will better improve its function of
getting information while respecting human rights by eliminating torture and use more
extensively a system of techniques of building a relation based on trust to the detainee and
offering them benefits in favor of information of the terrorist organization in which they belong.
Individuals who are interrogate using torture techniques have been found to not be reliable and
often lie about information. The restriction of Drones with heavy weapons to strike terrorist
targets in heavily populated civilian areas and will only be allowed in host countries that permit
them and only in isolated/abandoned locations with no civilian presence, and only after
comprehensive investigation on the target. Instead, Special Forces will be used to coordinate
surgical strikes on terrorist targets. Drones will only be used for aerial reconnaissance to survey
terrorist activity, with permission from the host nation. Drones have often been used by terrorists
to promote other unaffiliated people to join their ranks, since drones miss their targets 90 percent
of the time. The Kyoto Act would also focus to combat money laundering including
implementing the Financial Action Task Force standards, which mainly address the types of laws
and regulations a country should have; the agencies a country should establish; the reporting
regime and the entities within and outside of the financial sector that should be obliged to file
reports like banks, money remitters, exchange houses, securities brokers, mutual funds, insurance
companies, casinos, lawyers, accountants, realtors, art dealers and the sharing of non-evidentiary
information to generate cooperation with other countries to ensure conviction of launderers. It
would also require the training of judges in specific elements of money laundering and terrorist
financing crimes.
Another integral part of The Kyoto Act would be its preventive measures to reduce the
likelihood of terrorist attacks. The Kyoto Act would propose border control agreements to tighten
immigration control by taking fingerprints at landing examination and visa application,
mandatory advanced submission of crew and passenger list by Airplane/Vessel Captain, Deny
entry of terrorist by using a database on lost and stolen passports, mandatory check of
passengers passports by air and sea carriers and assistance to foreign governments to improve
travel document examination capacity by dispatching advisors. The Kyoto Act would also focus
on the current refugee/migrant crisis that is creating havoc in Europe and the Middle East, which

has facilitated the entrance of terrorist cells to these countries. The Kyoto Act would assist the
UNHCR and other organizations in alleviating the refugee/ migrant crisis in the Middle East by
helping refugees integrate into the workforce of the asylum country while preventing the
entrance and creation of terrorist cells outside of the Middle East through monetary assistance,
the creation of harmonized data collection systems so that reliable data on migration are
available and can facilitate analysis of and responses to migration trends. Also focus on capacity
building and training of border authorities, upgrading of reception facilities and conditions, and
better analysis of the groups involved in the migrant crisis through analyzing gender, diversity
and age in separate groups. However, government surveillance will be prohibited under The
Kyoto Act but will allow surveillance of a specific individual or group who is a suspect, as long
as they get legal authorization from the nations judicial body
Preventive measures would go beyond just controlling borders and also control other
aspects including infrastructure and bomb control. The Kyoto Act would establish a system to
control different microorganisms potentially used for bioterrorism. Tightening import control
though designation of explosives as prohibited goods for import. Improving measures to analyze,
detect and defuse IED and the materials in which it is made of in order to reduce the possibility
of bomb attacks. The Kyoto Act would strengthen security measures for important facilities in
emergency situation, firmer counter-terrorism measures at airports and nuclear facilities and
stronger protection for nuclear material firmer anti-hijacking measures through Sky Marshall
Program. Assist economic and educational reform in developing countries, seek peaceful
settlement of conflicts and consolidation of peace, aim for sustainable development and poverty
reduction, extend assistance to moderation and promotion of dialogue between nations.
Japan hopes that the different members of the United Nations adopt The Kyoto Act, a
comprehensive series of agreements to combat terrorism while respecting human rights. The
Kyoto Acts offensive treaties will reduce the use of drones and instead utilize special operation
forces in order to commit surgical strikes on terrorist organizations, while also minimizing the
use of torture. The acts preventive measure will focus on minimizing the chance of a terrorist
attack in major civilian areas including access of bomb materials, protect infrastructure and
regulate surveillance. In order to commit many of these actions, Japan will have to reinterpret its
ability to use military forces under Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution to utilize more

extensively special operation forces around the world. Japan understands that this action must be
done in order to protect our civilians from terrorist activity. The Kyoto Act will surely help
reduce terrorism in a humane way and bring peace to a fractured world.