(Tokyo) – The Japanese Diet on July 17, 2026, adopted a flag desecration regulation that criminalizes damaging Japan’s nationwide flag, a violation of the best to freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch mentioned as we speak. Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its coalition associate Japan Innovation Party, and three opposition events supported the invoice throughout a session of the Diet’s higher home, following passage by the decrease home on June 30.
The regulation prohibits “publicly damaging, removing, or defacing” Japan’s nationwide flag in a “way or situation that evokes significant discomfort or disgust in people.” People charged with this offense face penalties of as much as two years in jail or a most advantageous of 200,000 yen (about US$1,250), equivalent to article 92 of Japan’s Penal Code, which criminalizes the desecration of international flags.
“Japan’s flag desecration law poses a direct threat to the right to freedom of expression,” mentioned Teppei Kasai, senior Asia program officer at Human Rights Watch. “By chipping away at this fundamental right, the law sends a message that puts everyone’s basic liberties at risk.”
The flag desecration regulation undermines the best to freedom of speech and expression in violation of worldwide human rights regulation. Japan is celebration to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which in article 19 protects the best to freedom of expression, together with symbolic acts. Legal restrictions to guard public order or nationwide safety are permitted provided that they’re crucial and proportionate.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has been clear that inflicting offense to patriotic sentiment or speech considered “deeply offensive” doesn’t justify legal punishment. The committee particularly “expresse[d] concern regarding laws on such matters as … flags and symbols.”
Before the invoice was handed, a lot of authorized students mentioned that the regulation was inconsistent with the Japanese Constitution. During a Diet session on June 25, the constitutional scholar Yoko Shida mentioned:”It is extremely likely the bill in its current form will be ruled unconstitutional if it were to be brought to court.” Shida mentioned the act is “extremely broad… [A]s a result, it will inevitably restrict various constitutional rights.”
Hisashi Sonoda, a legal regulation knowledgeable, wrote that punishing an motion that causes “discomfort” to others is a “serious violation” of article 21 of the Japanese Constitution, which protects freedom of expression. Nearly 150 legal regulation researchers and a number of other bar associations have additionally expressed opposition to the invoice.
Other governments have used flag desecration legal guidelines to stifle dissent, Human Rights Watch mentioned. In Hong Kong, the federal government has lately revived two colonial-era laws-the National Flag and National Emblem Ordinance and the Regional Flag and Regional Emblem Ordinance-that criminalize the desecration of China’s nationwide flag and Hong Kong’s regional flag and used them towards democracy activists.
In August 2019, Hong Kong authorities reportedly arrested 5 activists for eradicating the Chinese nationwide flag and throwing it into the ocean. In December 2019, a Hong Kong court docket sentenced a 13-year-old lady to 12 months of probation for burning a Chinese flag throughout a pro-democracy protest. In 2020, a Hong Kong court docket sentenced Tony Chung, a scholar activist, to 4 months in jail for damaging a Chinese flag throughout a 2019 protest. The late democracy activist Koo Sze-yiu had additionally been convicted a minimum of eight instances for violating the anti-flag legal guidelines.
“The flag desecration law hands the present and future governments of Japan a ready-made tool to silence protest against the state,” Kasai mentioned. “The Japanese government should repeal this law and demonstrate to the world that Japan’s democracy is strong enough to tolerate dissent.”
Source: Human Rights Watch