英字新聞

The Yomiuri Shimbun November 15, 2013
Isahaya issue cannot be solved solely with judicial decisions
諫早開門問題　司法判断だけでは解決できぬ（11月14日付・読売社説）

Another layer of confusion has been added to the issue concerning the Isahaya Bay land reclamation project in Nagasaki Prefecture. We think it is impossible to solve the problem with only judicial judgments.
　長崎県の諫早湾干拓事業を巡る問題は、混迷の度を増すばかりだ。もはや、司法判断による解決は困難ではないか。

The Nagasaki District Court has decided to issue a provisional injunction to the government to stop the planned opening of floodgates of a dike built in the bay.
　長崎地裁が、湾内に設けられた堤防排水門の開門差し止めを国に命じる仮処分を決定した。

　The court has judged it is highly probable agriculture and fisheries will suffer damage if the floodgates were to be opened. The court therefore ruled in favor of parties who filed a suit, including farmers, who oppose a government study that would involve opening the floodgates.
「開門すれば、農業や漁業が被害を受ける蓋然性が高い」と判断し、開門調査に反対する干拓地の営農者らの訴えを認めた。

It is a conclusion in direct opposition to the one made by the Fukuoka High Court in December 2010. The high court ordered the government to open the floodgates for five years to investigate what impact it could have on fisheries in the area. The high court decision has already been finalized.
　２０１０年１２月の福岡高裁判決と正反対の結論である。高裁は、漁業に与える影響を調べるため、国に対して５年間の開門を命じ、判決は確定している。

It is natural for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to have commented on the matter, “It is an extremely difficult situation as we are charged with two [conflicting] obligations: ‘We must open the gates’ or ‘We must not open the gates.’”
　林農相が「開門と、開門してはならないという二つの義務を負うことになり、大変難しい状況だ」と語ったのは当然だろう。

Because judges base their decisions on the advantages and disadvantages to parties in a lawsuit from evidence submitted, the interests of parties not directly involved in the lawsuit are not taken into consideration.
　裁判官は、提出された証拠だけに基づき、訴訟当事者のみの利害を判断するため、訴訟に絡まない関係者の利害は考慮されない。

In cases in which the interests of farmers and fishermen are intricately intertwined with multiple lawsuits underway—as can be seen with the Isahaya issue—conflicting judicial conclusions are sometimes drawn according to evidence submitted to courts.
　この問題のように、営農者や漁業者の利害が複雑に交錯し、複数の訴訟が係争中のケースでは、示された証拠によって相反する結論が導かれることもある。

Political settlement desirable

As a result, judicial rulings will fall short of fully solving the issue. Therefore, we believe it is desirable to settle the Isahaya Bay issue politically rather than through judicial rulings.
　結果として、司法判断によって解決が遠のく。諫早湾問題は、司法決着よりも、政治による解決が望ましいと言える。

However, thorough preparations and coordination are indispensable to politically solve the problem. After the Fukuoka High Court’s ruling in 2010, then Prime Minister Naoto Kan decided not to appeal the high court decision to the Supreme Court although he had not sufficiently examined the impact of opening the floodgates and other factors.
　ただし、政治解決を図るには周到な調整が欠かせない。菅首相（当時）は、福岡高裁判決後、開門の影響などを十分に検討しないまま、上告を断念した。

“I have my own knowledge on this issue,” Kan stressed, but he was ultimately unable to point the problem toward a final settlement. Instead, his actions have invited distrust against the politics of parties involved in the issue.
　菅氏は「私なりの知見を持っている」と力説したが、最終解決への道筋は示し得なかった。それどころか、関係者の政治不信を招く結果になった。

If the government had appealed the high court ruling to the top court, there was a possibility the issue could have ended with a court-mediated settlement. Even if such a settlement was not made, there might have been a different development in the issue’s history if the Supreme Court had handed down its decision on the issue, because top court decisions strongly influence subsequent decisions in trials at lower courts regarding similar cases.
　上告していれば、和解成立の可能性もあった。そうでなくても、下級審に強い影響力を持つ最高裁判決が示されれば、異なる展開になっていたかもしれない。

The Fukuoka High Court-ordered deadline to begin the floodgate-opening study, Dec. 20, is now approaching. With the Nagasaki court’s decision, it is unlikely for the government to start the investigation by the date. The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe must do its best to reach out to parties involved in this issue, such as local governments, fishermen and farmers, to find a compromise.
　福岡高裁判決が命じた開門調査の開始期限は１２月２０日に迫っている。今回の決定で、期限内の調査開始は見通せなくなったと言えよう。安倍政権は事態打開に向け、地元自治体や漁業者、営農者の歩み寄りに全力を挙げるべきだ。

The Isahaya Bay land reclamation project has been regarded as a prime example of a “public works project that cannot be stopped once it has started.” The initial purpose of the project was to create an increase in food production. However, even if the government shifted its policy to reducing rice fields, the project would continue under the pretext of disaster management or securing a water resource.
　諫早湾の干拓事業は、「止まらない公共事業」の代名詞とされてきた。当初は、食料増産が目的だったが、国が減反政策に転換しても、防災や水資源確保などに名目を変えて継続された。

We suspect the government underestimated the impact of the project on fishermen and farmers as it placed too much priority on simply keeping the project moving. The major lesson from the issue of the Isahaya Bay land reclamation project is how important it is to obtain the understanding of the parties involved.
　政府は事業継続を優先するあまり、漁業者や営農者への影響を過小評価していたのではないか。利害関係者の理解を得ることがいかに大切か。諫早湾干拓事業の大きな教訓である。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 14, 2013)
（2013年11月14日01時46分 読売新聞）