沖縄「密約」判決 文書管理と原則公開の徹底を

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Top court ruling must not impede information disclosure requests
沖縄「密約」判決　文書管理と原則公開の徹底を

Documents on a secret agreement may have existed, but that does not mean they were kept by the Foreign Ministry—this was the opinion expressed by the Supreme Court in a recent ruling regarding the disclosure of documents on a secret Japan-U.S. accord.
　「密約」文書が作成されたとしても、外務省が保有していたとは認められない――。最高裁はそう指摘した。

Former Mainichi Shimbun reporter Takichi Nishiyama and other plaintiffs have demanded the court order the government to disclose documents confirming the existence of a secret accord tied to the 1972 reversion of Okinawa Prefecture to Japan from U.S. control.
　沖縄返還に伴う日米間の密約を示す文書の開示を、元毎日新聞記者の西山太吉氏らが求めた訴訟の判決だ。

On Monday, the top court upheld a high court ruling which concluded that it was legitimate for the government to turn down an information disclosure request for the documents on the grounds that such documents “do not exist.”
最高裁は、「文書の不存在」を理由に開示しなかった国の決定を適法とした２審判決を支持した。

Despite the ruling, the high court acknowledged that the secret agreement did exist between Tokyo and Washington, and referred to the possibility that the documents were secretly destroyed by the Foreign Ministry or other parties.
　２審判決は、文書の存在を認めた上で、外務省などが秘密裏に文書を廃棄した可能性に言及した。

But Monday’s ruling did not go that far, and we believe the top court was duly careful to avoid making assumptions.
最高裁判決はそこまでは踏み込まなかった。推測を交えず、慎重に判断したと言えよう。

The papers in question include one showing that Japan, during the negotiation process with the United States for the 1972 reversion, has agreed to pay $4 million for the restoration of land occupied by the U.S. military.
　問題となったのは、１９７２年の沖縄返還に至る日米交渉の過程で、米軍用地の原状回復費４００万ドルを日本側が肩代わりすることなどを申し合わせた文書だ。

Nishiyama obtained a copy of the relevant documents from a Foreign Ministry official. Based on the copy, an opposition party lawmaker questioned the government in the Diet.
　西山氏が関連文書の写しを外務省職員から入手し、野党議員がそれを基に国会で追及した。

Nishiyama was later convicted for violating the National Civil Service Law.
西山氏は国家公務員法違反で有罪となった。

These series of events are now known as the “Nishiyama incident.”
「西山事件」である。

The government denied the existence of the secret accord when suspicions were raised.
　日本政府は当時、密約を否定した。

The decision was apparently not easy—we assume that the government decided to deny the suspicion so the reversion of Okinawa would smoothly proceed.
沖縄返還を円滑に実現するため、苦渋の選択をしたという一面もあったろう。

There are always secrets in diplomatic negotiations, which have a huge impact on national interests.
国益をかけた外交交渉に秘密はつきものだ。

Govt’s irresponsible attitude

In 2000, an official document indicating the existence of the secret accord was discovered in the United States. 　２０００年になって、米国で密約の存在を示す公文書が発見された。

Later, a former director of the Foreign Ministry’s American Bureau who was in charge of negotiations with the United States for the handover admitted Japan’s payment for land restoration during a media interview.
沖縄返還協定の対米交渉責任者だった元外務省局長は、報道機関のインタビューで、日本側の肩代わりを認めた。

However, the government continued to deny the existence of the secret accord.
　日本政府はその後も、密約自体を否定し続けた。

There is no way to avoid criticisms that the government had dodged its responsibility to explain the incident.
国民に対する説明責任に背を向けたと批判されても仕方ない。

Examination of the case took place under the Democratic Party of Japan-led administrations from 2009 to 2010, and a Foreign Ministry advisory panel admitted that Tokyo and Washington exchanged “a secret pact in a broad sense.” 　民主党政権下の２００９～１０年に検証作業が行われ、外務省の有識者委員会は、日米間に「広義の密約」があったと認定した。

The ministry also conducted an in-house investigation but failed to find documents of the secret accord itself.
一方、外務省の内部調査で、密約文書そのものは発見されなかった。

Considering the circumstances, the top court likely decided to cautiously approach the issue.
　こうした経緯から、最高裁は、慎重な姿勢に徹したのだろう。

There is one concern over the ruling, however: The top court ruled that those requesting information disclosures bear the burden of proving the existence of the documents in question.
　疑問が残るのは、最高裁が、文書の存在を立証する責任を開示請求者側に負わせた点だ。

But it is extremely difficult for an ordinary citizen to know how administrative bodies handle the documents they are seeking.
一般国民が、行政機関の文書管理の状況を把握するのは極めて難しい。

We are afraid that Monday’s ruling may raise the bar for people wishing to access government documents through the freedom-of-information system.
　今回の判決で、情報公開のハードルが、これまでよりも高くならないだろうか。

The system is able to exist on the condition that administrative organs preserve their documents appropriately.
　情報公開制度は、行政機関が文書を適切に保存していることを前提に成り立っている。

It is impermissible for such organs to arbitrarily destroy their documents to avoid them being disclosed to the public.
仮にも、行政機関が恣意しい的に文書を廃棄し、情報公開を免れるようなことはあってはならない。

The principle must be reasserted once again that diplomatic documents should be disclosed to the public after a certain period of time to let posterity examine them.
　外交文書は原則、一定期間後に公開して、後世の検証を受けられるようにする必要がある。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 16, 2014)