Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, Taiwan

Visit by Mr Daisuke Sato and Mr Seungkoo Choi of No Nukes Asia 

On the 25th of May, 2014, Mr Daisuke Sato and Mr Seungkoo Choi paid a visit to Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association. Mr Sato and Mr Choi are both part of the No Nukes Asia Actions, a group of lawyers leading a class action against the nuclear reactor building companies General Electrics, Toshiba and Hitachi, requesting 100 yen compensation for each plaintiff, which currently number at 4128 plaintiffs from 39 countries. The main objective of this class action is to spread awareness of the current laws that shields the nuclear industry from compensation costs, while curtailing the rights of nuclear accident victims to seek reparations. 

 

Existing legislation in Japan and Taiwan protects the nuclear energy industry by facilitating the construction of reactors that are not resistant to earthquakes and tsunamis on geologically active areas, severely limiting responsibility for compensation. These laws are modeled after the Price-Anderson Act of the United States of America (1957).

 

 

The recent judgment of a Japanese court ordering the suspension of operations at the Oi Nuclear Plant in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, was a watershed event, as it was based in large part on the “moral” rights of humans to live without the fear or risk of a nuclear accident occurring, also termed as the “No Nukes Rights”. Mssrs Sato and Choi hope to launch a global petition garnering support to request the Tokyo District Court’s acknowledgement of this human right, and to underscore the injustice of not holding the companies that built the reactors responsible for damages ensuing from the 20121 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

 

They also aim to seek greater collaboration between lawyers from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan during the upcoming No Nukes Asia Forum, which will be held in Taipei from the 26th to 28th of September 2014. An official statement against nuclear power will be released and the ultimate goal will be the creation of a statement that carries legal weight that can subsequently be proposed to global organizations such as the United Nations Human Rights Commission. 

 

Wild at Heart welcomes volunteers to join this initiative. Specifically we invite help with translation, including the complaint filed against the companies that built the nuclear reactors. The document can be found here: 

http://maker-sosho.main.jp/archives/makesoshosojo.pdf (in Japanese)