With the state-sponsored conspiracy bill widely expected to be rammed through the House of Representatives next week, experts are blasting the government for attempting to justify its passage by bringing up a U.N. treaty that Japan hasn't ratified yet.
The government has argued that its bill is a prerequisite for ratifying the U.N. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which was adopted in 2000 and took force in 2003.
So far, 187 countries have ratified it and 11 — including Japan, Somalia, South Sudan and Iran — have not.
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