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I. Introduction
Through this seminar, I researched about refugees in Japan, mainly people who are 仮放免 (on provisional release, having been released from detention centres and now living in the community). The number of refugees in Japan is low and the system of applications for asylum (to be
accepted as a refugee) and approval is really complicated . During the semester, I researched the systems and policies of refugee applications, 仮放免 (provisional release), and detention centers in Japan. My research began from Rohingya people in Japan and as a result I got interested in refugees in Japan. I read an article about many Rohingya people gather in 館林市,群馬. My image of refugees was refugee issue occurs in Japan and I have thought that refugee issue is an issue which discussed globally and governmentally, but 館林市plays an important role for them. For example, they hold some parties for residents to understand Rohingya refugees. This issue is not a problem which struggle from the government. In my research, I went to 東日本入国管理センター（牛久入管収容所）/ Higashi Nihon Immigration Center (Ushiku Detention Center) with 牛久収容所問題を考える会 (Ushiku no Kai) and met two detainees. In this report, I will explain the situation of refugees in Japan, mainly systems, policies and asylum seekers who are waiting for to be accepted as refugees, as well as the situation in detention centers and the work of an organsiation that support people in detention and on provisional release.
II. Refugees in Japan
In 2015, the number of refugee applications in Japan was 7,586 and this increased 25% from the previous year. In first inspection, 19 people were approved as refugee and after 異議申し立て (appeals) 27 people were accepted. 79 people were allowed to reside as 特定活動 [平成２７年における難民認定者数等について（速報値）:法務省]. This number is really low amongst developed countries. [数字で見る難民：難民支援協会] Today, in European countries, they have migration crisis and there are about 59,500,000 people who are refugees or internally displaced people. In 2016 in Japan, just from January to September, the number of refugee applications was 7,926（速報値) and 6 people already approved as refugees. In the past two years, in 2013 and 2014, only 6 and 11 people were approved. [平成２６年における難民認定者数等について]. [平成25年度における難民認定者数等について] Each year, though the situation of the world keep changing so the number of application is increasing, there are few changes of the approval.
III. Rohingya People in Japan
At first, my research focused on Rohingya people in Japan. (Burma is often called Myanmar, but in my report I will call Burma.）They are a minority group who live in the border area of Burma and Bangladesh. The majority religion of Burma is Buddhism, but Rohingya people are Muslims so they have been marginalized. In addition, the Burmese government defined that Burmese nationals are people who came to Burma before 1823, one year after British colonists came to Burma. It is estimated that Rohingya people have come to Burma after British colonial period, but it is not clear. In countries around Burma, there are also many Rohingya people because in 1970s and 1990s, they moved to Bangladesh and also escaped to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia by boat. Burma government consider them as illegal alien so Rohingya people don’t have any nationality [Move this point to above?]. In 2015, Thai government strengthened control [of what/?] and other around countries stopped accepting them so many Rohingya people couldn’t move to any other countries. This news was reported all over the world so Rohingya problems received attention.
There are about 230 Rohingya people in Japan, and 90% of them live in the 館林市,群馬県 (Tatebayashi City, Gunma) . 在日ビルマロヒンギャ協会 was established in 1994 and the then president lived in 館林 (Tatebayshi) so many Rohingya people came to 館林 to receive support from him. This is an example of the tendency that refugees gather one area to live together and live in the prefecture which near Tokyo. People who are not approved as refugees, they need to go to the Immigration Bureau in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, once in a month so they need to live in the area near Tokyo but the price is not high. Over 90% of Rohingya people in Japan is unemployed because they are not certified as refugee and they are 仮放免 (on provisional release) or 仮滞在.
IV. The situation of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Japan
According to 難民の地位に関する条約（1951）, refugee defined as 「人種、宗教、国籍、政治的意見やまたは特定の社会集団に属するなどの理由で、自国にいると迫害を受けるかあるいは迫害を受ける恐れがあるために他国に逃れた」人々. This is an international standard. [A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Most likely, they cannot return home or are afraid to do so. War and ethnic, tribal and religious violence are leading causes of refugees fleeing their countries] [What is a refugee]In 1982, 難民の地位に関する条約及び難民の地位に関する議定書 [Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees] was established and Japanese government set some policies and systems. In Japan, asylum seekers who are accepted as refugees can receive some merits; relaxation to get the right of permanent residence, issued a passport of refugee and they can get some social welfare support like Japanese people such as. If they are not approved as refugee, they will may be sent to detention center. Japan has two detention centers, one in 牛久,茨城県 (Ushiku, Ibaragi Prefecture) and one in 大村市,長崎県 (Omura City, Nagasaki Prefecture)
In detention center, there are also people who entered Japan 'illegally' (with the correct immigration documents) , who overstayed their visas, who who are out of capacity（people who changed their purpose to stay in Japan, they came to Japan with study visa but they begin to work or they apply as refugee） and limited their 特定活動 [What is this?]. This means that refugees and undocumented or 'illegal' migrants are kept in the same place. There are some possibility which refugees will be treated as criminal and the opposite is. [日本に押し寄せる「偽装難民」]
Of course, it is not automatic for asylum seekers to be sent to detention center. There are other statuses for people who are waiting to certified as refugees. People who have status of living in Japan are called 特定活動. They have status of living for 6 months while they keep updating by the result of application.
V. 仮放免 and 仮滞在 (Provisional Release and Provisional Stay)
People who don’t have status of living in Japan are 仮放免or 仮滞在 . First, 仮滞在 means 当該外国人が本邦に上陸した日から6か月以内に難民申請を行ったものであるとき又は難民条約上の迫害を受ける恐れのあった領域から直接本邦に入ったものである時などの一定の要件を満たす場合には、仮に本邦に滞在することを許可し、その間は退去強制手続きが停止される. And 仮放免 means 被収容者について，請求により又は職権で，一時的に収容を停止し，身柄の拘束を仮に解く措置. People who have applied as refugee within 6 months from the date when they came to Japan or they came from the area which they maybe threatened as refugee, will be approved to stay in Japan temporary and the procedure for force leave will be stopped. [難民認定制度：2 仮滞在の許可]
収容令書による収容期間は「３０日（但し，主任審査官においてやむを得ない事由があると認めるときは，３０日を限り延長することができる）」，退去強制令書による収容は「送還可能のときまで」と定められ被収容者の健康上の理由，出国準備等のために身柄の拘束をいったん解く必要に対応する制度. 仮滞在and仮放免have some limited conditions. The area which they can go is limited and they need permissions to leave their living areas, and they are banned from working in Japan. They cannot sign up for national insurance so most of 仮滞在or仮放免people are facing poverty. For example, one Rohingya men who live in Tatebayashi, he is Provisional release so he doesn’t sign up for national insurance. He paid 30,000 yen to test for the stomach. With national insurance, he need to pay only 6,000 yen. Not to sign up for it, their shoulder gets heavier. [＜日本の難民２＞健康保険に入れず医療費は全額負担「仮放免」に苦しむロヒンギャ男性]
VI. Ushiku no Kai and Support for Detainees in Ushiku Detention Center
牛久入管収容所問題を考える会 (Ushiku no Kai) is a volunteer group which work for support detainees in Ushiku Detention Center. Their activities include going to 東日本入国管理センター (Ushiku Detention Center) to see detainees and supporting them by sending some daily necessities, distributing handbills and conducting a campaign to collect signatures to improve the environment of the detention center and the situation of refugee approval , and introducing some lawyers to detainees and support for detainees to achieve 仮放免 (provisional release). To be 仮放免, detainers need security and security money（under 300万円) . Moreover, detainers need to prove the reasons why they need to be free from detention center, for example, they have health problems. The process of provisional release is to ask the detention center which the detainer is in with some documents, 仮放免許可申請書,身元保証書,誓約書. However, this document is mainly written in Japanese and some part is in English. Tokyo and from Ushiku station we had to take bus to get to detention center. We met one detainer from Turkey as refugee and one detainer from Sri Lanka who is over stayed. We couldn’t communicate even in English with Kurdish men but with a Sri Lankan we could talk in English. There are no any language support in detention center so this is one of the problems.
VII. Different Views of the Refugee issue in Japan
After visiting detention center, I began to think that there are two different side views of refugee issues. The views are from supporters of asylum seekers and refugees such as Ushiku no Kai and from authorities such as the Ministry of Justice. The first view looks at the problems from the perspective of human rights. Another one is from government and legal points. For example, there are some refugees who don’t have visa and passport so they came to Japan with a forged passport. Like Rohingya people, they were not given Japanese citizenship or refugee status by the government so from a Japanese legal view, they become illegal aliens. These double standards make the Japan’s refugee issues more complicated.
To increase the number of certified refugee, we need to spread the consciousness [increase the awareness?] of people in Japan about refugees and develop their understanding that acceptance of refugees is an international issue. At the same time, Japanese government should make strong support system for 仮滞在or 仮放免and people who wait to be accepted as refugees. They tend to be isolated from the world. If they cannot get jobs, the government give them some volunteer work which refugees can feel they are in the world.
VIII. References
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