Two appalling incidents have occurred lately: a 33-year-old woman from Sri Lanka died of emaciation and a cluster of infection of the coronavirus broke out in the detention facilities. The incidents come from the notorious practices of the Japanese government, which complies with the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law.
REVISED IMMIGRATION ACT MAY FURTHER BREACH HUMAN RIGHTS
Either of the two incidents is a consequence of the Japan’s immigration policy that ignores the human rights. A working group of the United Nations Human Rights Council sent a written document last year to the government of Japan, specifying that: discrimination against foreign nationals who entered Japan to seek protection as a refugee is a daily practice in the country. The council criticized the immigration authorities for the inhumane treatment of foreign nationals in the detention centers.
The Constitution of Japan proudly stipulates the human rights, but under the rule the state-level institutions evidently, openly infringe the human rights, which is severely condemned and rigorously advised by the international organization to correct the situation. This fact cannot be overlooked.
For what is the amendment?
The Suga government has presented a bill to the current Diet session to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law, ignoring the existing injustice: it plans to control foreign nationals more strictly. That means changes may further aggravate the human rights situation.
Key points are as follows: during a review process of application for refugee status the visa-overstayer is protected by the regulations on suspension of deportation, but he/she will be limited to having chances up to twice for application. If he/she refuses repatriation, criminal penalties will be levied. The government has decided to impose punishment to decrease the number of asylum seekers, considering that a repeated-application rule causes long-term seating in the government centers.
Thus, voices are raised against the proposed introduction of penalties to intensify control on foreign nationals; detainees die due to the erroneous policy of the government and revisions are not to improve the law but to manage it to favor the authorities. Amendment must not be made.
Hunger strike killed detainees
The bill to make legal changes is a response to recommendations raised in June, 2020, by the Working Group of Experts on Detention and Repatriation, which is composed of former directors of immigration offices of the Ministry of Justice. The group was set up after a Nigerian male detainee had died due to hunger strike in June, 2019, in protest against the prolonged custody at the Omura Immigration Control Center (Nagasaki Prefecture). The number of deaths inside the immigration facilities counts over 17, including the woman from Sri Lanka, since 2007 as the statistics is available.
In most of the cases when long-incarcerated people refuse deportation, they have right reasons; persecution is likely in the country of origin, family members live in Japan and so on. Some cannot pay back debts and thus cannot go home after entering Japan on the government program to learn technical skills as a trainee.
Law court does not commit in
In 2019 only 44 people were certified as a refugee out of 10,375 applicants. Japan is a country to shut down refugees. Nevertheless the immigration authorities regard that foreign nationals use the system arbitrarily in order to evade repatriation.
Another component shows that the law court does not commit in the immigration affairs. The opposition parties have sent a draft to the House of Councilors, which includes creating a new independent agency to recognize refugee status and requesting judicial decision on detention. The human rights are the basis, and thus, the immigration administration should be based on the human rights.
どちらの事件も人権無視の入管行政がもたらした。国連人権理事会の部会は昨年、日本政府への意見書で「日本では、難民として保護を求める外国人への差別的対応が常態化している」と出入国管理庁の外国人収容の非人道性を指摘した。
人権尊重をうたう憲法の下で、国の機関が半ば公然と重大な人権侵害を犯し、国際機関から厳しく批判され、是正勧告されている事態は看過できない。
そうした実態があるにも関わらず、菅内閣は入管の管理を強化し人権侵害をさらに助長しかねない改定案を今国会に提出している。
改定案の柱は、難民認定申請中は送還が停止される規定の適用を２回までとして３回以上は認めず、送還を拒否すれば刑罰を科すというもの。申請の繰り返しが長期収容の原因になっているとし、罰則規定を設けて減らそうというのだ。
刑罰による管理強化に対し、「自らの誤った政策で死者を出しながら、改善ではなく、焼け太りを狙っている。絶対に成立させてはならない」という声も上がっている。
改定案は、法務省に設置された元入管局長らをメンバーとする「収容・送還に関する専門部会」の提言（昨年６月）を受けたものだ。部会は大村入国管理センタ― 〈長崎県〉でナイジェリア人男性が長期の拘束に抗議して1９年６月、ハンストで餓死したことから設置された。入管収容施設での死者は、統計のある０７年以降直近のスレランカ女性を含めて１７人に上るという。
強制退去命令を拒否する長期収容者には、帰国すれば身に危険がある、日本に家族がいるなど特別な事情がある場合がほとんどだ。技能実習制度で来日し、訪日のための借金を返すめどが立たず帰国できなくなったケースも珍しくない。
英訳版↓
No. 1205 Bill to revise Immigration Act
Two appalling incidents have occurred lately: a 33-year-old woman from Sri Lanka died of emaciation and a cluster of infection of the coronavirus broke out in the detention facilities. The incidents come from the notorious practices of the Japanese government, which complies with the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law.
REVISED IMMIGRATION ACT MAY FURTHER BREACH HUMAN RIGHTS
Either of the two incidents is a consequence of the Japan’s immigration policy that ignores the human rights. A working group of the United Nations Human Rights Council sent a written document last year to the government of Japan, specifying that: discrimination against foreign nationals who entered Japan to seek protection as a refugee is a daily practice in the country. The council criticized the immigration authorities for the inhumane treatment of foreign nationals in the detention centers.
The Constitution of Japan proudly stipulates the human rights, but under the rule the state-level institutions evidently, openly infringe the human rights, which is severely condemned and rigorously advised by the international organization to correct the situation. This fact cannot be overlooked.
For what is the amendment?
The Suga government has presented a bill to the current Diet session to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law, ignoring the existing injustice: it plans to control foreign nationals more strictly. That means changes may further aggravate the human rights situation.
Key points are as follows: during a review process of application for refugee status the visa-overstayer is protected by the regulations on suspension of deportation, but he/she will be limited to having chances up to twice for application. If he/she refuses repatriation, criminal penalties will be levied. The government has decided to impose punishment to decrease the number of asylum seekers, considering that a repeated-application rule causes long-term seating in the government centers.
Thus, voices are raised against the proposed introduction of penalties to intensify control on foreign nationals; detainees die due to the erroneous policy of the government and revisions are not to improve the law but to manage it to favor the authorities. Amendment must not be made.
Hunger strike killed detainees
The bill to make legal changes is a response to recommendations raised in June, 2020, by the Working Group of Experts on Detention and Repatriation, which is composed of former directors of immigration offices of the Ministry of Justice. The group was set up after a Nigerian male detainee had died due to hunger strike in June, 2019, in protest against the prolonged custody at the Omura Immigration Control Center (Nagasaki Prefecture). The number of deaths inside the immigration facilities counts over 17, including the woman from Sri Lanka, since 2007 as the statistics is available.
In most of the cases when long-incarcerated people refuse deportation, they have right reasons; persecution is likely in the country of origin, family members live in Japan and so on. Some cannot pay back debts and thus cannot go home after entering Japan on the government program to learn technical skills as a trainee.
Law court does not commit in
In 2019 only 44 people were certified as a refugee out of 10,375 applicants. Japan is a country to shut down refugees. Nevertheless the immigration authorities regard that foreign nationals use the system arbitrarily in order to evade repatriation.
Another component shows that the law court does not commit in the immigration affairs. The opposition parties have sent a draft to the House of Councilors, which includes creating a new independent agency to recognize refugee status and requesting judicial decision on detention. The human rights are the basis, and thus, the immigration administration should be based on the human rights.
April 13, 2021