# Giving Form to Our Responsibilities as a Member of the International Community

Section 2

Japan must also proactively contribute to resolving the important impending issues that the international community is now facing. Specifically, Japan will continue to provide support for self-help efforts toward a stable transition and domestic reforms in the Middle East and North Africa, collaborate with international organizations for emergency/humanitarian aid in response to conflict/disasters, give seamless support for the peace-building process that takes into consideration the vulnerability of developing countries, and make other proactive contributions to the international community in the future as well.

The Middle East and North Africa hold extremely important positions in guaranteeing the security of Japan’s energy.

Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Kazuyuki Hamada observes Tunisia's first National Constituent Assembly election after the revolution

Those regions were already dealing with issues such as Middle East peace process, the Iranian nuclear problem, and measures to combat poverty and terrorism, and since December 2010, beginning in Tunisia, there have been large-scale protests by the citizens of countries and areas within the region. In particular, the enormous protests have brought down long-term governments in Egypt and Tunisia, opening the way for a democratic political process. In these and other ways, the Middle East and North Africa are heading into a truly historic period of transformation. However, reforms and transitions to new systems have only just begun in the countries of the

The Japan Disaster Relief Rescue Team conducts a search in New Zealand (Photo: JICA)

Middle East and North Africa. With the brash demands of the masses, particularly young people, the governments must not only deal with “democratization of political systems,” but must also overcome many economic and social problems (high unemployment, rising food prices, the widening gap between the rich and poor, etc.) in the future as well. For the countries in the region, the future will bring them a moment of truth. Achieving domestic reforms and transition to new systems in a stable manner is also extremely important for establishing peace and stability in this region and in ensuring human security. (See the figure on page 32) This will require a higher degree of assistance from the international community. From this standpoint, at the G8 Deauville Summit held in May 2011, the heads of state of each G8 country referred to the reform movements occurring in the region as the “Arab Spring,” and have designated it as a top-priority world issue, reconfirming the need for assistance. Further, at the Summit, Prime Minister Kan announced that Japan also intended to cooperate with the international community to respond to the reform movements, and while taking into consideration Japan's experience in contributing to growth and stability in Asia, also utilize collaboration between the public and private sectors to proactively aid the self-help efforts of each country toward transitioning to new systems and implementing domestic reforms in the region in a stable manner. Prime Minister Kan indicated that Japan's policy would focus on the three