Training taking place in Japan for human resources development projects in the area of peacebuilding (Hiroshima)

Pilot Program for Human Resource Development in Asia for Peacebuilding in FY2007 to foster civilian experts with practical skills needed at the site of peacebuilding from a long-term perspective. In FY2007, the initiative had 29 trainees from Japan and other Asian countries and offered three types of programs: (a) domestic training; (b) overseas training; and (c) job placement. Many trainees who completed the programs are now actually working in the field of peacebuilding.

See Column 11 on page 95 on human resource development for peacebuilding.

## (1) Iraq

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The international community, including Japan, has been extending assistance for Iraqi nation building to restore and well establish a peaceful and stable Iraq. It is extremely important not only for the people of Iraq, but also for the peace and stability of the Middle East and the international community that Iraq rebuild itself as a peaceful democratic country while ensuring its sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity. This is also a matter of direct concern to the national interest of Japan.

## See page 114 on assistance for the Middle East

In Iraq, an official government was inaugurated in 2006 as a result of the Iraqi National Assembly election held in 2005. In May 2007, a ministerial-level meeting on the establishment of the International Compact with Iraq—a compact that stipulates the cooperative roles of the Iraqi government and international society in a wide range of sectors, including politics, safety, economics, and society—was held in Egypt with the attendance of 74 national delegates and organizations. It is expected that the international community lend assistance so as to allow the Iraqi government to have more independent and autonomous efforts under such broad endorsement.

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To date, Japan has conducted the reconstruction assistance of Iraq by combining the human contribution of Self-Defense Forces (SDF) and development assistance as an “inseparable pair.” Regarding assistance by the SDF, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force engaged in humanitarian reconstruction assistance including the reconstruction and development of public medical, water provision, and school facilities centered in Samawah from the beginning of 2004 until July 2006. Transport assistance for personnel and goods from the UN and allied forces by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force continues to be provided as of September 2008.

As for official development assistance, Japan’s direct assistance through grant aid has reached approximately US1.69 billion in total as of the end of March 2008. Among the aid projects to date, nine projects for the provision of equipment including police vehicles, fire trucks and equipment for solid waste management in Samawah as well as another seven projects including those for the provision of a mobile transformer substation and for the rehabilitation of general hospitals in northern and central regions in Iraq were completed. Results of these assistance projects are beginning to be felt on the ground. In FY2007, Japan decided to implement a project to improve health services for 500,000 mothers and children around Fallujah by providing medical devices for the establishment of the Maternity and Children’s Hospital in Fallujah and other means such as the Grant Aid for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). $ ^{65} $

Human resource development is important in advancing steady reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Japan has been assisting capacity building of Iraqi administrative officials and engineers through training programs in various areas. As of the end of FY2007, approximately 2,400 Iraqis received training in Japan and in Iraq's neighboring countries such as Egypt and Jordan. Moreover, Japan has been holding the National Reconciliation Seminar with the participation of representatives from Iraq's various religious and ethnic groups in order to promote national reconciliation, which is currently an outstanding issue in Iraq. In addition, Japan accepted seven Iraqi students at the expense of the Iraqi government in FY2007.