1 comment on “DEBITO.ORG READERS’ ISSUES OF CONCERN, DECEMBER 2024”

• December 14, 2024 at 2:06 am

  JK says:

  I’d like to launch the new section with this particular Issue of Concern:

  Lacking support, asylum seekers in Japan end up living on streets / 妊婦の食べ物はゴミ箱から　苦しむ日本の難民申請者　支援なく路上に (Japanese language paywall version)

  From the article:

  Japan, a signatory to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees since 1981, is obligated to protect those who have fled their home countries due to danger to their lives.

  However, Japan still has no legislation in place to provide livelihood support to refugee applicants.

  40+ years of the GoJ failing to live up to its commitments?: Check!

  Although there is no underlying law, the Foreign Ministry since 1983 has contributed funds from its budget to support refugee applicants in the form of a “protection allowance.”

  The allowance is handled by the Refugee Assistance Headquarters, an organization within the Foundation for the Welfare and Education of the Asian People, a Tokyo-based public interest incorporated foundation commissioned by the central government.

  Ah, no problem — Sarah and Rashid (i.e. the two asylum seekers whose plight is detailed in the above articles) received this “protection allowance”, right?

  Nope!:

  In early November, when they had managed to survive with money provided by private NPOs, they received a call from the Refugee Assistance Headquarters about their request for the protection allowance.

  “We cannot provide support,” an official told Rashid, without giving a reason.

  The organization declined repeated requests to comment on the issue.

  40+ years of the GoJ taking a distinctly hands-off approach to the welfare of refugee applicants? Check!

  OK, Sarah and Rashid got the raw end of the deal, but hey, at least there’s plenty of yen in the Foreign Ministry’s “protection allowance” budget for other applicants, right?

  Nope!:

  But the budget for the protection allowance decreased by more than 20 percent, from 336 million yen in fiscal 2011 to 259 million yen in fiscal 2024.

  “There is a conflict with other budgets, and it’s hard to explain,” a Foreign Ministry official said about the budget decrease.

  LOL, it’s obvious that GoJ (and specifically, the Foreign Ministry) places scant value on the livelihood of refugee applicants, so the “protection allowance” budget gets cut; why is that so hard to explain?

  Well, hey, at least the GoJ recognizes that there are legit reasons (e.g. war in the Middle East and Ukraine) as to why the number refugee applicants has increased (per the article, 3.6 times from 2022 to 2023, and about 7.4 times compared to 2011), right?

  Nope!:

  Yasuzo Kitamura, 73, a professor emeritus at Chuo University who is an expert on refugee policies and serves as a counselor for refugee recognition, said the number of refugee applicants has grown since the second administration of Shinzo Abe started in 2012.

  “As for the reason for the increase in applicants, the government focused on such discourses as ‘the number of people disguised as refugees has risen,’ rather than taking into account the global situation,” Kitamura said.

  “So, the government took a harsh approach from a humanitarian standpoint, and this has continued in subsequent Liberal Democratic Party administrations.”

  12+ years of the GoJ tilling at windmills? Check!

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