Hiroshima City Council seen likely to pass revised peace promotion ordinance proposal
Jun. 22, 2021
by Hajime Niiyama, Staff Writer
Hiroshima City’s peace promotion ordinance, which the Hiroshima City Council’s 54 members have deliberated on for some time with the aim of enactment, is expected to pass on June 25, the final day of the ongoing regular assembly. On June 21, Haruo Yamada, the city council’s chair, and Kozo Watanabe, the vice chair, presented a revised ordinance proposal with three amendments compiled by the city council’s policy-making review committee. According to reporting by the Chugoku Shimbun, a majority of the city council members are expected to sign on to the revised proposal. The most likely scenario then would be for the revised proposal to be submitted to the assembly by city council members and approved by majority at the plenary session on June 25. The earliest the ordinance will be implemented would be on June 28.
The three proposal revisions of the ordinance are: 1. the Preamble; 2. Article 5, which defines the role of citizens; and 3. Clause 2 of Article 6, which calls for the “Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony to be performed in solemnity,” based on understanding and cooperation from citizens.
The revised preamble has added mention of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)’s going into effect. The revised Article 5 calls on Hiroshima citizens to endeavor to engage in activities related to the promotion of peace, but the phrases “in a responsible way” and “cooperate with the city’s measures concerning promotion of peace” have been deleted from the original text. For Clause 2 of Article 6, the term “citizens” was changed to “citizens and others,” but the phrase “in solemnity,” which engendered split opinions both in support of and against, continues to appear in the current proposal.
On June 21, Mr. Yamada and Mr. Watanabe presented the proposed revisions at the meeting of the secretaries general from each faction held in City Assembly Hall. They explained that the new proposal reflected the opinions of those seeking revisions and changes on three points that had been raised by numerous participants in the previous meeting of June 18. Mr. Yamada called on each party to consolidate the opinions of its members. “We have revised the parts of the proposal about which we received many opinions.”
For the original ordinance proposal, two organizations, both named the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Prefectural Hidankyo), together with the Hiroshima Bar Association requested postponing submission of the proposal to the regular assembly meeting and revising the contents, arguing that Clause 2 of Article 6 might be interpreted as restricting citizen behavior. After the meeting of the secretaries general, Mr. Yamada said, “We have considered many opinions including the organizations’ demands. Some of the differences in opinion cannot be bridged even if we were to extend discussions.”
Based on the Chugoku Shimbun’s interview, support for the ordinance proposal is broad-based across the city council’s factions, including 14 council members from the Liberal Democratic Party’s Shimin (‘Citizen,’ in English) faction, the largest group in the assembly, eight from the Komeito party, and seven from the Civic Reform Network faction. It is a near certainty that the proposal will be supported by a majority of the city council in a vote during the plenary session on June 25. Five council members from the Japanese Communist Party have expressed opposition to the proposal, indicating that “Citizens and groups have expressed their opinion calling for postponement of the proposal submission.”
The Hiroshima City Council’s peace promotion ordinance is expected to pass while still incorporating Clause 2 of Article 6 in which is included the phrase “The Peace Memorial Ceremony shall be performed in solemnity,” language about which A-bomb survivors’ groups have expressed concern. Unclear is how the city government, the organizer of the ceremony, intends to conduct the memorial ceremony in solemnity based on the ordinance. Careless use of the term in the ordinance is unacceptable and puts the city in the position of having to shoulder a tremendous burden.
When the Peace Memorial Ceremony is held on August 6 every year, several demonstrations are staged with loudspeakers in the area around the A-bomb Dome, which is located in the vicinity of the ceremony venue. The revised proposal put together by the council chair and vice chair does not include any definition of “solemnity” or clearly describe particular groups that are being targeted to ensure solemnity. As a result, much of the ordinance will be left to the discretion of the city government.
The biggest cause of this situation is the Hiroshima City Council’s policy-making review committee, the body that drafted the ordinance proposal. That committee began to prepare the ordinance proposal starting in July 2019, calling on the ceremony to be “performed in solemnity” in the draft proposal compiled in December 2020. Since then, the committee has sought opinions about the draft from citizens, collecting a total of 1,043 opinions, which demonstrated polarization around the word “solemnity.” Regardless, during a total of 24 committee meetings, no in-depth discussions took place about the definition of the term “solemnity” or regarding the groups targeted by the clause.
Voicing its concerns about the ordinance, the Hiroshima Bar Association has announced, “If citizens interpret that enactment of the ordinance means they have to refrain from expressing their opinions, their constitutional right of freedom of expression might be violated.” Although no punishments are stipulated in the ordinance, there is room for expansion of the interpretation of that part of the ordinance. Under such circumstances in which thorough discussions have not been made, doubts remain about submission of the ordinance proposal to the city council’s plenary session on June 25.
Regarding the revised ordinance proposal, a Hiroshima City senior official expressed his dissatisfaction. “I don’t think anything will be changed by the ordinance immediately, and it’s hard to understand specifically what the ordinance demands of the city government.” How does the ordinance relate to peace promotion in Hiroshima, the city that experienced the first atomic bombing in the world? That serious responsibility for peace promotion must also be borne by the city council, the body that will submit the proposal.
(Originally published on June 22, 2021)
Hiroshima City’s peace promotion ordinance, which the Hiroshima City Council’s 54 members have deliberated on for some time with the aim of enactment, is expected to pass on June 25, the final day of the ongoing regular assembly. On June 21, Haruo Yamada, the city council’s chair, and Kozo Watanabe, the vice chair, presented a revised ordinance proposal with three amendments compiled by the city council’s policy-making review committee. According to reporting by the Chugoku Shimbun, a majority of the city council members are expected to sign on to the revised proposal. The most likely scenario then would be for the revised proposal to be submitted to the assembly by city council members and approved by majority at the plenary session on June 25. The earliest the ordinance will be implemented would be on June 28.
The three proposal revisions of the ordinance are: 1. the Preamble; 2. Article 5, which defines the role of citizens; and 3. Clause 2 of Article 6, which calls for the “Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony to be performed in solemnity,” based on understanding and cooperation from citizens.
The revised preamble has added mention of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)’s going into effect. The revised Article 5 calls on Hiroshima citizens to endeavor to engage in activities related to the promotion of peace, but the phrases “in a responsible way” and “cooperate with the city’s measures concerning promotion of peace” have been deleted from the original text. For Clause 2 of Article 6, the term “citizens” was changed to “citizens and others,” but the phrase “in solemnity,” which engendered split opinions both in support of and against, continues to appear in the current proposal.
On June 21, Mr. Yamada and Mr. Watanabe presented the proposed revisions at the meeting of the secretaries general from each faction held in City Assembly Hall. They explained that the new proposal reflected the opinions of those seeking revisions and changes on three points that had been raised by numerous participants in the previous meeting of June 18. Mr. Yamada called on each party to consolidate the opinions of its members. “We have revised the parts of the proposal about which we received many opinions.”
For the original ordinance proposal, two organizations, both named the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Prefectural Hidankyo), together with the Hiroshima Bar Association requested postponing submission of the proposal to the regular assembly meeting and revising the contents, arguing that Clause 2 of Article 6 might be interpreted as restricting citizen behavior. After the meeting of the secretaries general, Mr. Yamada said, “We have considered many opinions including the organizations’ demands. Some of the differences in opinion cannot be bridged even if we were to extend discussions.”
Based on the Chugoku Shimbun’s interview, support for the ordinance proposal is broad-based across the city council’s factions, including 14 council members from the Liberal Democratic Party’s Shimin (‘Citizen,’ in English) faction, the largest group in the assembly, eight from the Komeito party, and seven from the Civic Reform Network faction. It is a near certainty that the proposal will be supported by a majority of the city council in a vote during the plenary session on June 25. Five council members from the Japanese Communist Party have expressed opposition to the proposal, indicating that “Citizens and groups have expressed their opinion calling for postponement of the proposal submission.”
Commentary: Careless use of the word “solemnity” is unacceptable
The Hiroshima City Council’s peace promotion ordinance is expected to pass while still incorporating Clause 2 of Article 6 in which is included the phrase “The Peace Memorial Ceremony shall be performed in solemnity,” language about which A-bomb survivors’ groups have expressed concern. Unclear is how the city government, the organizer of the ceremony, intends to conduct the memorial ceremony in solemnity based on the ordinance. Careless use of the term in the ordinance is unacceptable and puts the city in the position of having to shoulder a tremendous burden.
When the Peace Memorial Ceremony is held on August 6 every year, several demonstrations are staged with loudspeakers in the area around the A-bomb Dome, which is located in the vicinity of the ceremony venue. The revised proposal put together by the council chair and vice chair does not include any definition of “solemnity” or clearly describe particular groups that are being targeted to ensure solemnity. As a result, much of the ordinance will be left to the discretion of the city government.
The biggest cause of this situation is the Hiroshima City Council’s policy-making review committee, the body that drafted the ordinance proposal. That committee began to prepare the ordinance proposal starting in July 2019, calling on the ceremony to be “performed in solemnity” in the draft proposal compiled in December 2020. Since then, the committee has sought opinions about the draft from citizens, collecting a total of 1,043 opinions, which demonstrated polarization around the word “solemnity.” Regardless, during a total of 24 committee meetings, no in-depth discussions took place about the definition of the term “solemnity” or regarding the groups targeted by the clause.
Voicing its concerns about the ordinance, the Hiroshima Bar Association has announced, “If citizens interpret that enactment of the ordinance means they have to refrain from expressing their opinions, their constitutional right of freedom of expression might be violated.” Although no punishments are stipulated in the ordinance, there is room for expansion of the interpretation of that part of the ordinance. Under such circumstances in which thorough discussions have not been made, doubts remain about submission of the ordinance proposal to the city council’s plenary session on June 25.
Regarding the revised ordinance proposal, a Hiroshima City senior official expressed his dissatisfaction. “I don’t think anything will be changed by the ordinance immediately, and it’s hard to understand specifically what the ordinance demands of the city government.” How does the ordinance relate to peace promotion in Hiroshima, the city that experienced the first atomic bombing in the world? That serious responsibility for peace promotion must also be borne by the city council, the body that will submit the proposal.
(Originally published on June 22, 2021)
