Photo/Illutration Defense Minister Minoru Kihara responds to a question during an Upper House Budget Committee session on Oct. 31. (Koichi Ueda)

Another serious case of sexual harassment has come to light within the Self-Defense Forces, casting doubt on the credibility of its pledge to eradicate harassment.

Adding a disturbing twist to the case, the heartless behavior of a superior officer further traumatized the female victim, ultimately compelling her to resign.

The new revelations should drive home to the SDF that its vow to root out harassment will end up being an empty slogan unless the mindset of officers in management positions fundamentally changes.

Starting last summer, a female member in her 20s of the Maritime Self-Defense Force suffered repeated sexual harassment from a senior male colleague, who touched her chest and legs and hugged her from behind.

This incident occurred amid a special defense inspection on harassment across all branches of the Defense Ministry and the SDF, triggered by a sexual assault complaint filed by Rina Gonoi, a former Ground Self-Defense Force member.

This indicates how the organizational culture that tolerates harassment is deeply ingrained in the SDF.

What was further problematic was that after the MSDF victim reported the harassment during a department inspection, an MSDF captain, who was the second-highest ranking officer in the department, forced her to meet the assailant to receive an apology from him despite her strong refusal to do so.

The senior officer not only violated one of the basic rules people in management need to follow in handling such cases--proceeding carefully while respecting the victim’s feelings.

The officer even uttered words that seemed intended to encourage the harasser in the presence of the victim. This is simply outrageous.

She was so shocked that she could not report for duty from the next day and after being diagnosed with depression, she resigned from the MSDF at the end of March.

The results of the special defense inspection published in August reported instances where officers in management positions behaved in ways that effectively silenced harassment complaints.

The report also pointed out that senior officers are not adequately trained in dealing properly with harassment cases that have occurred. Details of how the latest case unfolded offer a perfect example of these problems.

Defense Minister Minoru Kihara has issued a directive demanding strict disciplinary action in response to all cases of harassment.

In doing so, he said any form of harassment not only constitutes a violation of fundamental human rights but also erodes mutual trust among personnel and weakens the organizational strength of the SDF, stressing it should “never occur.”

Similar commands, however, have been repeatedly issued since last September, when the previous defense minister, Yasukazu Hamada, ordered the special defense inspection.

The question the SDF should ask itself now is whether it has been ensured that all SDF personnel have absorbed the message. The role and responsibility of officers in management positions in accomplishing this goal are of the utmost gravity.

Last month, a senior SDF officer still in active service was summarily indicted on insult charges for slandering Gonoi online.

It is vital to implement swiftly and meticulously the remedial measures proposed to tackle the problems discovered in the inspection, including improving and expanding training programs for management-level officers and the system to provide counseling and advice for victims.

The victim in the latest case, in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun, expressed her profound sense of frustration, stating, “The awareness (of the problem) within the upper echelons has not reached front-line personnel.”

Such “despair” must never be allowed to recur.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 5

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