July 28, 2023

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Nihi Sohei visited a Kurdish community in Saitama Prefecture on July 26 and talked with Kurdish families and children without residency status.

Along with Nihi, JCP Lower House lawmakers Motomura Nobuko and Shiokawa Tetsuya (both belong to the JCP commission on the protection of human rights and employment of foreigners in Japan) took part in the meeting.

Asylum-seeking Kurds said that because they are on provisional release from detention, they have no medical insurance cards and so have to pay high medical expenses, and that each time when they go out of Saitama, they need permission from the Immigration Bureau. Kurdish children complained that they are not covered by Saitama's measure for free education at high schools.

A first-year junior high school student said, "A visit to a hospital costs my parents between 30,000 yen and 40,000 yen." A student in his second year of junior high school said, "I can't go and play in soccer games in Gunma and Chiba because I'm not allowed to leave Saitama Prefecture." A second-year female junior high student said, "I want to study abroad, but as long as I'm on a provisional release, my dream won't come true."

Nihi pointed out that access to healthcare and education is basic rights and this "should be guaranteed for all of you". He added, "I will keep working on creating a society so that everyone can follow their dreams."

Past related article:
> JCP Nihi puts questions to Kurd and lawyer as sworn witnesses over immigration bills [May 26, 2023]