Eradicate Religious Kidnapping, Confinement, and Forced Conversion

We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens and residents of the United States. We recently learned of the incident in which Mr. Toru Goto was confined for 12 years and 5 months in an attempt to break his faith in the Unification Church. We are also aware that several other members of Mr. Goto’s religious community remain confined against their will at this moment.We understand that since 1966, there have been more than 4,300 victims of religious kidnapping and confinement in Japan. These crimes are perpetrated to deprive believers of their constitutional and natural right to religious freedom by persons who deprive their victims of liberty indefinitely unless they renounce their faith and express their intention to leave their religious community. Despite the fact that the victims are adults, the perpetrators justify their acts on the basis that the issue is only a “family matter.” Many have suffered physical injuries during escape attempts. Those who renounce their faith often divorce their spouses or cooperate with their captors to identify and confine new victims. Rapes by “deprogrammers” and even suicides of victims have been reported. Also, many victims—both those who eventually escape and return to the church and those who leave—suffer from PostTraumatic Stress Disorder and depression.

These heinous acts are in clear violation of human rights.  The issue of religious kidnapping was taken up in the Japanese Diet in April, 2000. The U.S. State Department also has mentioned the problem every year in its annual International Religious Freedom Report from 1999 to 2009.

Nevertheless, Unification Church members remain unprotected as the police and the courts refuse to act to enforce the Japanese Constitution’s guarantees of freedom of religion. As a democratic society and a prominent member of the international community, Japan is obliged to uphold international human rights – freedom of religion, freedom of belief and freedom of movement.  It is unthinkable to us that Japan, a country with an otherwise exemplary history of defending human rights, will not defend its own citizens.

During the 1970s and 80s, there were many similar incidents of “deprogramming” in the United States, but the problem virtually ceased after the courts and the police took appropriate action by arresting the kidnappers and punishing the conspirators.  We, therefore, request that the Japanese government immediatley take action to solve the problem of kidnapping and confinement in Japan.  We further request that the U.S. government, NGOs and religious leaders urge the Japanese government to do the same.

Specifically, we request the following actions:

1. That Japanese judicial authorities adopt swift and effective measures to charge those who kidnapped and confined Mr. Goto for 12 years and 5 months with a criminal offense and to take all other appropriate legal action.
2. That Japanese police immediately search for and intervene to release any adult victim who is believed to have been kidnapped and confined, even when relatives are involved.
3. That the Civil Liberties Bureau of the Ministry of Justice investigate religious kidnapping, confinement, and forced conversion and to publicize the damage caused by those activities.
4. That the Japanese police expeditiously protect and bring any victim to a safe place if a Japanese resident from overseas comes back to Japan, becomes a victim of kidnapping and confinement for forced conversion, and the victim or related individuals who are concerned about the victims’ safety request police rescue.
5. That the Japanese government take forceful action to eliminate kidnapping, confinement and forced conversion in the Japanese society in compliance with Article 20 of the Japanese Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion and Article 11 that guarantees fundamental human rights.