“Child Vicitims’ Law”_Urgent question in　Upper House plenary session　20121102

I am KAWADA Ryuhei from Your Party.

Representing my party, I’d like to ask some questions.

Two months has already passed since a censure resolution against Prime Minister Noda was passed on August 29. Did you forget why this occurred? You rammed the consumption tax hike bill through the Diet, then let down all the simultaneously promised social security reform plan. Isn’t this a deceit? For many people afflicted with recession and quake, tax hike is a question of life or death. This is a really serious decision. People feel betrayed and are disappointed. How will you take responsibility for the distrust you caused? Please explain with your words, without repeating the same words.

There are other things. The East Japan reconstruction budget, set up after raising tax to rescue nuke accident victims, has been used for unrelated purposes as media disclosed. Why was such nasty work done? Because government modified the Reconstruction Law insidiously so it could use the budget for things other than reconstruction. Please apologize to all people, who accepted the tax raise, believing it would be used for disaster victims!

Then, please suspend the execution of budget for unrelated projects. It must be suspended right now. Why?

Because the law to support nuclear refugees, victims, and children was passed in June. I am grateful to all Diet members, victims, and general public that helped make this law. Thank you indeed [bowing deeply].

This nuke victim support law was established, not by government, but by citizens and Diet members working together amid a crisis. This law recognizes victims’ right to escape from or stay in the disaster-hit areas, ensuring support of their lives and medical service at reduced cost without requiring evidence of causality relationship to radiation. Detailed plans and their budgets will be decided in December, and these budgets are really needed for rescuing disaster victims. The law, which aims at helping victims realistically, can be executed only with solid budgets.

In setting up a basic policy, first of all, government must know how many disaster victims there are, including refugees that have fled to far away places. This should have been done in the first place, but has been left to local governments, and the central government is now asking them to report the number of refugees in each prefecture. Despite the spread of refugees nationwide, different refugee registration systems developed by local governments in a non-unified manner are used, keeping us yet from getting hold of the total number of refugees. Twenty months has already passed from the quake. Refugees can no longer wait. We cannot go forward with the nuke victim support law without knowing the number of affected people. Please unify these registration systems right now! A nationally compatible system of survivor registration proposed at the central disaster prevention conference and committee on disaster prevention measures is supposed to be discussed in an ordinary Diet session next year. Why is this going so slow? Minister for Reconstruction, please explain!

After the nuke victim support law was made, the most heard request from victims is assistance for transportation cost. Fathers visiting their wives and children in refuge or people going back and forth between Fukushima and a radioactivity-free area need a lot of travel expenses: To ease this, elimination of highway tolls has been proposed. Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Mr. Hata said last month he would consider the proposition with the Ministry of Reconstruction, proposing the use of mother/child health diaries to identify recipients of this assistance. The Minister’s words were welcomed with applause by nuke victims, who lost hope after government abandoned them. Disaster victims now have big trust in Mr. Hata, who has a qualification for nursery school teacher, believing he will surely make highways toll-free for disaster-affected families. Since the quake, many disaster victims have been watching Diet sessions on the internet. The questions I am asking today are being listened to and will be spread by quite a few disaster victims. I wish I could hear Mr. Hata’s determination to help children here in this room, but I will ask Mr. Noda to answer this question.

Meanwhile, the Disaster Relief Law is not applicable to voluntary refugees within the Fukushima prefecture, and no aid measures have been taken. Until when will Reconstruction Minister Hirano neglect them? Please provide your specific opinion, Mr. Hirano.

Next, regarding health recuperation, school trips to less contaminated areas organized by the city of Daté, Fukushima, have been effective. The quake and nuke accident have deprived children of safe school environment. Relief of these children cannot be realized without cooperation by the Ministry of Education. I request that the Minister of Education should rescue children in accordance with the nuke victim support law as a long-term project. I urge that Minister of Education and Ministry of Education should work together with all their energy to rescue children. I would like Mr. Noda to comment on this, too.

Next, I’d like to ask about medial fee reduction, most important part of the new law. One case has been reported of pediatric thyroid cancer in Fukushima. The medical school of Fukushima University says this is not caused by the nuke accident. It is only a report by the Fukushima prefecture. The Law provides that all diseases except for those evidently not attributable to exposure to radiation shall be covered, and the national government, not a local one, shall decide the applicability. So, this case should be rightfully covered by legal protection based on overall judgment by the national government and third-party committees. Also, the possibility of health injury in people outside Fukushima must be monitored for by the national government. I request the Minister of Environment to answer this. What is stipulated in the nuke victim support law is too broad for governments only to cover. One way may be to set up a foundation for participation by citizens, who will work together with governments. Some companies have been hired with reconstruction budget, but disaster victims’ needs are too diverse for them to meet. Actually, they are not of help at all. Not big companies, but groups such as NPOs should participate. The same framework of reconstruction foundation used in other recent disasters such as Great Hanshin-Awaji Quake can be applied and adequately realized. Prime Minister and Reconstruction Minister, I’d like to hear your will to consider a reconstruction foundation to be run by groups of citizens.

This morning (Nov. 2), staff selection for the Nuclear Regulation Authority was decided by Cabinet members only, without waiting for Diet approval. This is such an important decision for future of the country and its people. The staff decided by the three major parties alone, for which no time for discussion at the Diet was given, is mostly composed of pro-nuke people. A terrible process of decision and terrible things decided! Voices of anger have risen from many people across the country. Prime Minister, please explain this to people in Japan.

Lastly, I will ask about disaster-related deaths. Such deaths reportedly counted 2303 at September end, of which 1121 being reported from Fukushima. I have asked the same question in the Diet a number of times since the quake, but no reaction from government! This year, finally, meetings were held to discuss disaster-related deaths, but no meetings held after the third one in August. An action team was finally set up, but why are actions for people’s lives so slow? Are they of so little importance? Even by the action team, no specific measures are being taken. Those deaths are obviously due to the evacuation after the nuclear accident. The Reconstruction Agency should lead all the government to take actions urgently according to the nuke victim support law. Don’t make further light of people’s lives!

Reconstruction Minister, please promise now. Also, are suicides included in the statistics? If yes, I wonder if emotional care has been satisfactory.

What is the biggest responsibility of government? Protecting people’s lives. Not political maneuvering! Not interests or concessions! Now that life is made light of, the nuke victim support law is critical! Please pledge to all people here you will ensure an aid system, including emotional care to prevent disaster-related deaths from occurring any more.

We don’t need a government or prime minister that doesn’t protect our lives! In this emergency situation, we can no longer entrust the Noda administration, which doesn’t protect life. At the close of my questions, I request that the Lower House should be dissolved soon to hold a general election!!

Thank you!!!