Legal control of intelligence agency for protecting fundamental rights

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K13220
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 05070:New fields of law-related
• Research Institution: Kochi University
• Principal Investigator: Konishi Yoko 高知大学, 教育研究部人文社会科学系教育学部門, 助教 (00876708)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 基本的人権 / 諜報機関 / 第三者機関

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research had the question as a precondition: "In Japan, how can it realize that a legal control of intelligence agency to gather information properly for national security, while they shouldn't violate our fundamental rights?". I researched the following methods and achieved two results to answer this question.
First, I examined comparative legal research of intelligence law in EU countries and the UK from a broad point of view. As a result, I learned that a specialized oversight board sometimes plays a crucial role, and this result has been published.
Second, after developing the first result, I tried to analyze some real cases in courts in Japan, such as a trial to protect human rights against the activities of law enforcement agencies, with the research methods and knowledge of intelligence study. Because intelligence study as legal research has a nature to try to overcome the difficulty between their hidden activities and the protection of fundamental rights.

Free Research Field

憲法学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究を通じて、専門的第三者機関による諜報機関の統制が重要であること、そして十分な実定法が存在しないために日本の法学領域においては注目されてこなかった諜報機関研究の手法や知見が、日本の現在の警察活動に関係する裁判例の分析においても有用であることが明らかになった。
諜報機関研究の手法や知見は、秘密的な国家の情報収集活動と、この活動により侵害されうる基本的人権のバランスという観点が基礎にあるため、同様に秘密的な国家の情報収集活動である警察活動の分析としても活かすことができるという気づきは、法学研究の発展を加速させる学術的意義を有する。