Strasbourg, 12.11.2009 – At the end of a five-day official visit to Japan, PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig today said that co-operation between Japan and the Council of Europe should be strengthened, at both parliamentary and intergovernmental level, as well as in the field of legal co-operation. "In the era of globalisation, every challenge is on a world scale, and it is more important than ever for us to join forces and find common solutions", he added, referring to peace and stability in the world, the impact of the economic and social crisis, the effects of global warming and the fight against terrorism.
Mr de Puig said that Japan was already very much involved in several Council of Europe activities, both in the Parliamentary Assembly, where a Japanese delegation takes part every year in the enlarged plenary debate on the OECD, and by making voluntary contributions to Council of Europe activities. This co-operation could, however, become stronger if Japan acceded to more Council of Europe conventions and partial agreements, or acquired observer status in the Assembly and full membership of the Venice Commission.
In a speech made at the Universities of Waseda and Kobe, the President broached the subject of the death penalty, perhaps the only one on which the Council of Europe and Japan differ. "Implementation of the death penalty is a violation of the most fundamental human right, the right to life, and does not help reduce the serious crime rate", he pointed out. During a discussion with Shizuka Kamei, Minister of State for Financial Services and Postal Reform, and also Chair of Japan’s Parliamentary League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, Mr de Puig also expressed support for a moratorium on executions, or for any other solution proposed by Japanese abolitionists, such as life imprisonment without any possibility of a pardon. Mr Kamei, like some other ministers in the new Japanese government, is taking up a clear public position against capital punishment.
