Okinawa prefectural assembly has unanimously adopted a resolution and a statement in response to a series of sexual assault cases involving US military personnel stationed in the southern Japanese prefecture.
The members of the assembly took the step at a plenary session on Friday.
The move comes after a 27-year-old US service member, a private first class, was indicted without arrest in April after sexually assaulting a woman and injuring another in a restroom on a US military base.
The resolution is a protest directed at the United States, including US Ambassador to Japan George Glass, while the statement outlines requests to the Japanese government, including Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru.
These documents say that despite the assembly having unanimously passed a similar resolution and statement in July last year in response to comparable incidents, efforts to prevent recurrence remain insufficient and it is difficult to say that the response has been sincere.
The documents referred to a new forum which was launched on Friday. It allows the US military, the Okinawa prefectural government and other parties to exchange views. The assembly calls for the forum to be held regularly.
The assembly members also urge participants of the forum to engage in effective discussions on how such incidents are disclosed and how to prevent them. They also request that the results of these talks be made public.
In addition, the assembly calls for fundamental revisions to the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement to allow Japanese authorities to promptly take custody of US military personnel suspected of off-duty offenses.
The assembly also requests that both the Japanese and the US governments take responsibility for providing care, apologies and compensation to victims.
It calls for ongoing human rights education for US military personnel and the implementation of effective measures to prevent similar incidents on military bases.
AloJapan.com