BR2-07 PEACEKEEPERS

I'm sure that all the people around the world wish for peace. However, human beings have kept fighting in numerous wars for more than 4000 years. It can be said that history of human beings consists of the countless wars. Still now, A lot of people are suffering from wars all over the world. It seems that it's almost impossible to stop all the wars. This is really a sad fact but we don't just wait with folded arms to finish the wars. There are peacekeepers, who belong to United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, to try to keep the world peace. They mainly have two tasks.

One of them is observer mission and the other is peacekeeping. On observer missions, they operate hubs for observing cease-fires, become go-between, patrol in the cease-fire areas, and research. On peacekeeping missions, they conduct intelligence activities, implement anti-guerrilla strategies, buck up foreign diplomacy, carry out humanitarian aids, restore infrastructure, and other things.

As for Japan, Japan Self-Defense Forces have joined quite a few missions as a part of the multinational Allied Forces and it has been a controversial issue in Japan. That's because some people think the activity conflicts with the Constitution of Japan " article 9".

Here is the article from wikipedia.
"ARTICLE 9. Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. (2) To accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized."

Why the article is controversial is that the article can be interpreted its meaning not only one way but in some ways depending on each person. There are mainly 4 interpretations. First one is renouncing all the acts of war and military potential including the right to defend ourselves. Second one is renouncing all the acts of war and military potential except the right to defend ourselves. third one is accepting all the acts of war and military potential as long as it's to defend ourselves. Last one is Accepting the right to individual self-defense but renouncing the right to collective self-defense.

In my opinion, "war" will never become a thing of the past as long as we keep arms. However, at the same time, I feel we can't protect ourselves without arms. I can't come up with the other ways to protect ourselves when a country try to attack Japan with arms. However, in any case, we should stop depending on arms to keep peace.
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