A group of lawyers working in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya said they will set up an organization this month to analyze and address the dangers of investor-state dispute resolution (ISDR) mechanism which is currently negotiated in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks.
The group plans to invite lawyers nationwide and hopes that several hundreds of them will recognize the threat of TPP to the national sovereignty and join the network to take action against it.
Hajime Kawaguchi, a lawyer in Nagoya and vice chairman of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations’ committee on the constitution, is working with Yukio Sugishima, a lawyer in Osaka, and Koji Iwatsuki, a lawyer in Nagoya, to establish the group before the end of this month.
Kawaguchi said that the ISDR clause in the TPP, which allows companies to sue countries for loss of future profits, could pressure governments to relax domestic laws and regulations and take away from lawyers the means of protecting the people’s lives, freedom and properties.
The TPP is not just a matter of agriculture or medical services, but a mechanism which could drastically change the nation’s structure through exploitation by global enterprises, Kawaguchi said.
It is unusual for lawyers to take action against something which is secretly negotiated, but Kawaguchi said lawyers have the responsibility to confront the issue, as it would be too late to take measures after damages occur.
Sugishima said that they will put together each of their expertise to create a consensus among the public.
They are asking influential lawyers to join the group, and plan to urge the federation, which has not made its attitude clear on the issue, to act against the TPP.
(July 4, 2013)