Japanese Peacekeeping Legislation and Recent Developments in U.N. Operations

Abstract

On June 15, 1992, the Japanese Diet adopted the Law Concerning Cooperation in U.N. Peacekeeping and Other Operations (Peacekeeping Law). The law, which came into force on August 10 of that year, amended the Self-Defense Forces Law to allow the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to participate in U.N. peacekeeping. Thereafter, Japan took a significantly more active role in U.N. activities. The Japanese government sent three electoral monitors to Angola to participate in the U.N. Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM II), more than 680 personnel including a 600-member SDF ground unit to Cambodia to participate in the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), and a 48-member SDF transport unit to Mozambique to participate in the U.N. Operations in Mozambique (ONUMOZ).