A cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers met International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akano at the court's headquarters in The Hague on the 6th, led by former defense minister Gen Nakatani, and came away with a list of requests for Tokyo.
Akano opened the meeting by stressing that the court has kept working since the United States imposed sanctions on the ICC itself. "Our work continues only because the member states stand behind us, and we will need their support even more from here," she said, according to the delegation.
Japan is the ICC's largest contributor to its budget and has sent judges to the court continuously since joining. That makes Tokyo's answer to her requests a test of how far it will back an institution now led by a Japanese judge while Washington pressures it.
What the court asked for
Nakatani and the others briefed reporters after the meeting. They said Akano and the court's side asked Japan to pay its full contribution for next year early, and to keep US-made communications equipment, software and health insurance available to the court.
The delegation belongs to the Parliamentary League for Bipartisan Consideration of Human Rights Diplomacy, which draws lawmakers from both governing and opposition parties.