日本全土のわずか0.6％にすぎない沖縄に、在日米軍専用施設の74％が集中していることは周知の事実です。

　その結果、沖縄が日本に復帰した1972年以降も、米軍人等による犯罪は後を絶たず、復帰後44年間だけでも5910 件にのぼり、うち凶悪犯罪は575件を占めています。2016年４月にも、ウォーキング中の20歳の女性が元海兵隊員に殺害されました。加えて、戦闘機など米軍機による耐え難い爆音被害の実態は、司法も認めています。10万人余の県民大会が配備撤回を求めたオスプレイの訓練による被害は、自治体の調査でも激しさを増しており、「運用協定」などは米軍優先で空文にすぎなくなっています。

　沖縄県民は幾度も、県民大会や国政選挙、自治体選挙で、また県議会や市町村議会で、米軍基地の県内移設に反対する意思を示してきました。2013年１月には、県議会議長と全議員、市町村関係４団体の長、全41市町村長と市町村議会議長の連名による、オスプレイの配備撤回と普天間飛行場の閉鎖・撤去、県内移設の断念を求める「建白書」を携え、安倍首相に直訴しました。

　にもかかわらず政府は、新基地建設に反対する非暴力の抗議行動に対して、沖縄県外から数百人もの機動隊を投入して弾圧・排除しつづけています。これは人権と民主主義の理不尽な否定にほかなりません。

　また、辺野古新基地とオスプレイ・パッドの建設が、ジュゴンやサンゴなど貴重な海洋生物の生命を奪い、ヤンバルの森のかけがえのない生態系を破壊することは明らかで、国際的にも批判されています。

　このようなことから、私たちは次の事項の実現を求めます。

 【 請 願 事 項 】

一、名護市辺野古への新基地建設をやめること。

一、全国各地へのオスプレイの配備に反対し、とりわけ東村、国頭村にまたがる北部訓練場でのオスプレイ・パッドの建設工事を直ちにやめること。

一、危険な普天間飛行場はただちに閉鎖し、すみやかな返還を実現すること。

一、沖縄駐留の米海兵隊を撤退させること。

一、不平等な日米地位協定を抜本的に改定すること。

※Change.orgでのネット署名は、制度上、総理大臣あてのみ有効となりますので、官邸提出分として取り扱います。

※自筆での署名をご希望の方は http://sogakari.com/?p=2222 より署名用紙をダウンロードしてください。

※第ニ次集約：2017年3月31日

【呼びかけ団体】

基地の県内移設に反対する県民会議

「止めよう！辺野古埋立て」国会包囲実行委員会

戦争させない・9条壊すな！総がかり行動実行委員会

 

 

（以下英訳）

Respect the Will of the People of Okinawa Island and Stop Imposing Burden of Hosting US Forces on Them

Your Excellencies:

Okinawa, an island that occupies only 0.6% of Japan’s land area, hosts 74% of US military facilities in Japan.

It is this reality that forces Okinawans to live under the threat of crimes committed by American servicemen. For the past 44 years since the island was returned to Japan in 1972, the number of offenses committed by US soldiers amounted to 5,910, of which 575 were heinous crimes. In April 2016, a twenty-year-old local woman, while jogging, was murdered by a former US Marine. And on top of it, people in Okinawa suffer from the unbearable nuisance of noise caused by US military aircraft, in particular fighter jets. The extent of damage inflicted on the population is documented in court rulings. MV-22 Osprey drills are another source of affliction. When US Marines intended to deploy MV-22 Osprey in Okinawa, over 100,000 Okinawans turned out at a mass rally to oppose the deployment. The plan, however, went uninterrupted, causing a lot of pain on the residents, which have been revealed by local government’s investigations. The Japanese and US governments agreed in advance on the operational guideline of MV-22 Osprey, but it is already a dead letter since the need of the US forces is always prioritized.

People in Okinawa expressed, many times over, opposition to the plan to relocate the US base to another place in the island on a number of occasions; mass rallies, National Diet elections, local assembly elections, sessions of the Prefectural Assembly and municipal assemblies. In January 2013, The Chairman and all the members of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, the presidents of the four associations of municipal governments and assemblies in Okinawa, and the mayors and chairpersons of all the 41 municipal governments and assemblies of Okinawa jointly signed a letter of petition, in which they demanded of Prime Minister Abe that his administration retract the decision to deploy MV-22 Osprey and Futenma Air Station be closed and removed from Okinawa.

The Government of Japan, however, chose the path of suppressing the non-violent campaign opposing the construction of a new air station by the force of riot police officers, hundreds of whom are mobilized from prefectures in the mainland. It is a gross violation of human rights and democratic principles.

Moreover, if a new air station at Henoko and the Osprey Pad are built, they will deny a habitat to invaluable marine creatures like dugongs and corals, and destroy the irreplaceable ecosystem of the Yanbaru Forest. For this, international environmental groups criticize the governments.

Cognizant of the above-mentioned, we, undersigned, hereby petition:

The construction of a new air station at Henoko, Nago City be stopped;

The deployment of MV-22 Osprey to any place in Japan be disapproved, and the construction works for the Osprey Pad in the North Drill Range located in Higashi and Kunigami villages be immediately terminated;

Futenma Air Station be closed down without delay and returned to Japan, given the fact that it endangers the lives of people in Okinawa;

The US Marines be withdrawn from Okinawa; and

The Status of Forces Agreement, which only entrenches unfair treatment of people in Okinawa, be fundamentally amended.

※ A petition signed at Change.org is only valid when it is addressed to the Prime Minister. All petitions signed at Change.org will be submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office.

※ Download a petition sheet at http://sogakari.com/?p=2222 if you need one to sign on.

※The second round of the petition campaign will end on March 31, 2017.

This petiton is coordinated by:
All Okinawans’ Congress Against the Relocation of the US Base in the Island
The Organizing Committee for Petitions to National Legislators: “No to Landfill at Henoko”
The National Action Committee “No to War/Yes to Article Nine”