April 6 According to information received by Kyodo News Agency of Japan on the 5th, González, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, and others issued a joint statement on March 31, demanding that the Japanese government improve the amendments to the Immigration Management and Refugee Recognition Law submitted to the current Diet. “This is not in line with international standards in many ways from the perspective of protecting the human rights of migrants,” the statement said.
The statement expressed concern that the Japanese amendment still maintains the principle of full reception for illegal stranded persons. The statement pointed out that although new “supervisory measures” will be set up to allow them to live in society through family members and support groups to report their living conditions, this is positioned as an exceptional response, requiring high deposits, etc., “too much restrictions will lead to differences caused by social and economic conditions”.
The report pointed out that when applying for refugee identification, in order to avoid repeated applications for forced repatriation, the amendment was included in the plan to allow repatriation from the third application, which stated that it was “gravely concerned”. In addition, the amendment does not have an explicit upper limit on the period of reception, which is also considered a problem.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention passed “Opinion” and so on August 2020, saying that the long-term admission of foreigners refusing expulsion orders in detention facilities is “in violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights”, demanding improvement, and increasing criticism of Japan.
