Statement of the President of the Fukuoka Bar Association
Calling for a Moratorium on Executions with a View toAbolishing the Death Penalty in Japan, Issued in Response tothe Moratorium on Federal Executions in the United States
1. The adoption of a “Resolution Calling for the Abolition of the Death
Penalty” by our Association
Our Association adopted, on 18 September 2020, a “Resolution Callingfor the Abolition of the Death Penalty” in which we stressed that the right tolife is an inherent human right deriving from human dignity and afundamental human right constituting the foundation of all human rights, andcalled on the Japanese government and the Diet to abolish the system of thedeath penalty and place a moratorium on executions until the abolition of thesystem is achieved.
2. The announcement of a moratorium on executions in the United States andits significanceOn 1 July 2021, the U.S. Attorney General issued a memorandum toleaders in the Department of Justice imposing a moratorium on federal
executions (hereinafter “the moratorium order”).
In this connection, our Association wishes to keep a close eye on whether
the moratorium order not only halts federal executions but also becomes afirst step toward the abolition of the death penalty, as a moratorium on
executions is frequently announced in the process leading to the abolition of
the system of the death penalty and, especially in the United States, theincumbent President pledged to abolish the federal death penalty during hiselectoral campaign.
We should also pay attention to the position of Japan and the United Statesin the international community. As of the end of December 2019, 142 out of
193 UN member States did not have a death penalty system (they had either
abolished the death penalty de jure or abolished it de facto by not carryingout executions for more than ten years). If we look at the 38 member Statesof the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),
only Japan, the US federal government and some US states have continued
to tolerate executions. We should take note of the fact that the moratorium
order was announced in such circumstances, ahead of Japan.
3. We call for placing a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishingthe death penalty in Japan1

The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil andPolitical Rights aiming at the abolition of the death penalty was adopted inDecember 1989 and entered into force in July 1991. In Japan, there was aperiod of three years and four months during which no executions took place.
This period began following an execution in November 1989 at the Fukuoka
Branch Center (now Fukuoka Detention House) and lasted until March 1993.
The above Protocol took effect during this period. However, in contrast to
the US moratorium order, the Japanese government has never placed a
moratorium on executions on the basis of a clear political judgment on thesystem of the death penalty.
Our Association, therefore, calls on the government and the Diet to placea moratorium on executions as a first step toward the abolition of the death
penalty, so that Japan cooperates with the international community thatstrives to create a community sharing the value of fundamental human rights,
especially that of the inviolability of the right to life, and thus discharges its
responsibility as a UN member State.
25 August 2021
Koji ITO
President, Fukuoka Bar Association2