Chinese labor claims against Japan
Published:
2010-06-30
background of the case]
During the Japanese war of aggression against China, in order to maintain the war, the Japanese government made a cabinet resolution in November 1942 to force Chinese laborers to do hard labor in Japan. According to a survey by the Japanese government, during World War II, 38,935 Chinese were forcibly taken to Japan to do hard labor. They were engaged in heavy forced labor in 135 locations of 35 Japanese companies. They were subjected to inhuman treatment and unpaid, and nearly 7000 people died. For this serious violation of international law and humanitarian behavior, the Chinese workers have not received any compensation. Although the Chinese government gave up state compensation for war compensation against Japan in the last century, the Chinese people have never given up demanding war compensation. Therefore, since the 1990 s, some scholars and legal professionals in China have begun to help Chinese victimized workers carry out litigation against Japan. Dong Yiming, a lawyer from Jinan office of Zhongcheng Renhe Law Group, has been in Japan several times to assist Chinese workers to participate in litigation against Japan as an "assistant" or in other capacities at his own expense since he joined the Chinese workers' claim against Japan in 2001.
The claim case of Chinese laborers against Japan has always attracted the attention of domestic and foreign media, especially the attention of Japanese media. The litigation of Chinese workers' claims is not only a legal issue, but more importantly, the results of such cases reflect the Japanese government's attitude towards pleading guilty to war crimes in World War II. Therefore, the Chinese laborers claim against Japan not only has legal significance, but also has certain political significance.
basic case]
Since June 28, 1995, 11 Chinese workers filed a lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against the Japanese company Kajima Construction as the defendant. To April 27, 2007, the Supreme Court of Japan made a final judgment on the "Nishimatsu Construction Compulsory Labor" lawsuit., Declaring the second-instance judgment of "Chinese labor plaintiff's victory" determined by the Hiroshima High Court invalid, and rejecting all Chinese complaints. Over the past 13 years, of the more than 20 lawsuits filed by Chinese workers, only four have won and two have reached settlements. On October 23, 2009, Shao Yicheng and other eight World War II victims reached a settlement with Nishimatsu Construction Co., Ltd. in the Anno case in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. This is the latest development in the Chinese labor claims against Japan.
legal issues in the case]
Since the first case of Chinese workers' claims against Japan was filed in Japan, the Japanese government has adopted a negative attitude and refused to admit the facts of the infringement. It refused to pay compensation and refused to apologize on the grounds that the Chinese government had given up its demand for war reparations and that Chinese citizens had no right to claim compensation from the Japanese government. Influenced by domestic political factors and the power of consortia, the Japanese court that accepted the case also adopted a similar view to reject the claims of Chinese workers. In the cases where the Japanese court was sentenced to lose, the Japanese court mostly used the following reasons to reject the claims of Chinese workers:
(1) "The State does not answer the liability clause", that is, the State does not bear civil liability for the conduct of the State, and therefore does not have to answer the case of the State in civil litigation. This is a legal principle of the Japanese emperor.
(2) "Exclusion period", that is, the statute of limitations, as long as twenty years have passed, the right to request litigation against illegal acts is eliminated.
(3) "the right of individual claim", the Japanese government believes that China has given up all the rights of war claims, and individual Chinese citizens have also lost the right of war claims.
Lawyer's View]
Looking at the Japanese court's reasons for rejecting Chinese labor claims, it is obviously contrary to normal legal principles. Japan's post-war civil law has abolished the "state has no responsibility to answer" jurisprudence. Therefore, it is obviously inconsistent with the basic law that the Japanese courts now apply the legal principles that were before World War II and have been abolished to deal with contemporary litigation cases. The reason for "exorcism period" does not apply to international crimes such as anti-humanitarian crimes, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Japanese government and Japanese companies during World War II. In this regard, article 29 of the Rome Convention on the International Criminal Court already clearly provides that no statute of limitations shall apply to such international crimes. On the issue of "individual claim", after World War II, the Chinese government gave up the right to claim state compensation for some reasons, but this does not mean that Chinese citizens have also given up the right to claim compensation against Japan. Civil rights cannot be punished by acts of the state.
Even so, Japanese courts have already ruled against Chinese workers due to domestic political factors. In 2007, the Supreme Court of Japan made a final judgment on the "Nishimatsu Construction Compulsory Labor" lawsuit, declaring the second-instance judgment of the "Chinese labor plaintiff's victory" determined by the Hiroshima High Court invalid and rejected all Chinese complaints. The judgment basically closed the door to litigation by Chinese laborers for claims against Japan. Because the Japanese judicial system is deeply influenced by the common law system, the lower judicial institutions often follow the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court in judicial practice. According to the above-mentioned judicial precedents of the Supreme Court of Japan, not only a series of claims that have entered the judicial process and are awaiting judgment, including this case, will end in vain due to the loss of legal support, and some new lawsuits in the pipeline may even be due to not being accepted by the local court. Can not be filed.
However, the litigation in the past ten years did not declare a complete failure because of this. The Supreme Court of Japan also pointed out in the judgment of the "Nishimatsu Construction Compulsory Labor" lawsuit: "The victims of this case suffered great mental and physical suffering, and the complainant Under the above-mentioned working conditions, the compulsory labor of Chinese workers has gained benefits and received compensation. In view of these facts, we look forward to the efforts of the relevant parties, including the complainant, to remedy the losses of the victims in this case." Moreover, for more than a decade, both the local court and the Supreme Court of Japan have recognized the factual part of the lawsuit in large and small lawsuits brought by Chinese workers to Japan. In other words, the past "litigation methods" have won all the cases in the factual part. The failure is that the demands in the legal part cannot be truly realized-that is, apology and compensation.
Case Thinking and Inquiry]
For more than ten years, the claims filed by Chinese workers in Japanese courts have not achieved the desired results. But after all, it opened up the way for Chinese victims of World War II to file claims against the war perpetrators, and also provided experience for more effective litigation in the future.
At present, some scholars and legal professionals are promoting the way to achieve the purpose of litigation by filing claims against Japan in China. As the suzerain of the victim, it is in accordance with the principle of international law to have jurisdiction over such cases on the basis of personal law.
There are also groups and progressives who propose to achieve the purpose of claiming compensation against Japan through "non-litigation means"-the Japanese side admits the facts, apologizes, and compensates. The "China World War II Labor Legal Aid Group" and the "China Labor Association" envisage bypassing the Japanese government and sending a lawyer's letter directly to the Japanese companies that harmed Chinese workers, asking them to "admit the violation of the facts and send company representatives to violate the human rights of Chinese World War II workers." In the matter of confession and compensation negotiations with representatives of the China World War II Labor Association and the China World War II Labor Legal Aid Group ". It is hoped that the Japanese government and the victimizing enterprises will recognize the fact that the Chinese people were forcibly taken from China to Japan in World War II and forced to work in Japan, and at the same time, the Japanese government and the victimizing enterprises and their groups will set up a fund with a total amount of 100 billion yen to pay compensation to the victims and their relatives, as well as to the investigation, research and education of forced labor of Chinese workers and forced labor. And focus on the future youth exchange between China and Japan.
The above-mentioned channels are all positive ideas to realize the purpose of claiming against Japan, but they all need further support from domestic and foreign legal professionals. In the litigation in Japan, Chinese workers not only receive the free help of domestic lawyers, but also the selfless support of Japanese lawyers. In order for Chinese laborers to claim compensation against Japan to finally achieve their goals, in addition to the selfless dedication of non-governmental forces, the Chinese government should also give certain support and clarify the official attitude. Because this matter is not only related to the personal interests of the injured workers, but also to the dignity of our nation.
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