1. Human Rights of Non-Status Migrants in Japan
- Author:
- Kazue Takamura and Erik Martinez Kuhonta
- Publication Date:
- 01-2017
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University
- Abstract:
- Japan employs a mandatory detention policy toward non-status migrants, including asylum-seekers. This practice triggers a set of human rights concerns that are in conflict with international human rights law. The number of asylumseekers has increased sharply from 1,202 in 2010 to 10,901 in 2016. Yet, the country’s refugee acceptance rate was a record low of 0.25 percent. Migrant detainees often experience fundamental human rights violations, including the lack of access to legal representation, prolonged periods of detention, inadequate health care, and unexplained deaths in detention facilities. Japan’s immigration authorities normalize their closed-door policies toward asylum-seekers by questioning the “refugeeness” of asylumseekers and labeling them as “fake asylum-seekers.” It is necessary to facilitate active and sustainable multi-stake holders’ collaboration among NGOs, municipal governments, health professionals, lawyers, and scholars in order to challenge the state’s human rights violations toward migrants.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, International Law, Immigration, Asylum, and Migrant Workers
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia