Prime Minister Taro Aso of Japan announced the Diet's passage of the Anti-Piracy Measures Law on June 19, 2009. In an official statement, he underscored the significance of the new law, which penalizes acts of piracy and provides for measures to enable the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to protect commercial ships, both Japanese and non-Japanese, from pirates operating off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden.
The Prime Minister emphasized that with this law, Japan “will be able to take more effective and appropriate measures against acts of piracy” not only to protect Japanese citizens and goods traversing the seas near Somalia but also to allow Japan to “discharge its responsibility as a member of the international community” by contributing to joint global efforts to curb this menace. Prior to this law, Japan's naval destroyers were authorized only to protect Japanese-related commercial ships.
In a separate statement, Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone emphasized that the new law would also allow Japan to collaborate more closely with the international community in carrying out a multi-pronged approach aimed at addressing the roots of piracy in that part of the Indian Ocean. Japan has been an active participant in discussions of the Contact Group set up in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions on this issue; provided $67 million to the Somali TFG, through international organizations, to improve security; submitted a Supplemental Budget this year worth 3.6 billion yen to implement development projects in Somalia in an effort to bring stability to this African nation; and sent survey missions to Yemen and Djibouti to assess the feasibility of improving the capacity of these coastal nations to prevent piracy and armed robbery in the high seas; among other efforts.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo highly welcomed the passage of the low against piracy , during her speech at the International Friendship Exchange Council of Japan (FEC) on June 19 in Tokyo, saying that as a major supplier of the world's seafarers, the Philippines greatly appreciates Japan's decision to send vessels from the Maritime Self-Defense Force to the Indian Ocean to protect Japanese ships and foreign ships from the scourge of piracy. The Philippines accounts for approximately 70 per cent, or 30,000 seafarers, of the sailors manning Japanese vessels.
The President also said that the active participation of Japan in combating piracy in the Indian Ocean is an example of the many roles that Japan has assumed internationally and this action and other actions clearly demonstrate that Japan should be a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
In late March this year, Japan dispatched two naval destroyers to join other nations in efforts to ensure safe maritime navigation in the Indian Ocean near Somalia. Its naval destroyers have so far escorted 87 Japanese-related vessels in 28 such missions.
Statement by Prime Minister Taro Aso
Statement of Minister Hirofumi Nakasone
Japan's Actions Against Piracy Off the Coast of Somalia
