May 22, 2023

Thousands of citizens on May 21 marched in demonstration through Tokyo’s major shopping district of Shibuya in opposition to the government-proposed bill to revise the Immigration Control Law which enables deportation of foreigners seeking asylum in Japan in violation of the UN Refugee Convention.

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Motomura Nobuko together with other opposition parties’ lawmakers took part in this action.

At a rally prior to the demonstration, a Japanese woman whose partner is an overstaying foreign national on temporary release from immigration detention center delivered a speech in solidarity. She pointed out that Japan’s immigration control administration stereotypes foreigners as rule-breakers. Stating that the Japanese government has repeatedly received UN recommendations calling for the improvement of immigration control policies, she said, “Which is the rule-breaker, foreigners or the government?”

The bereaved family of a Sri Lankan woman, Wishma Sandamali, who died while in detention at the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau in 2021, participated in the demonstration. The woman’s younger sister said that in discussing the revision of the immigration control system, the government should uncover the whole truth behind Wishma's death and admit that the immigration authority was responsible for her death.

In the demonstration, participants chanted in chorus, “Gov’t, stop discriminating against foreigners!” and “Forced return of refugees is persecution,” and appealed to passersby to support their call for the scrapping of the adverse revision to the immigration control law.

Paste related article:
> JCP Yamazoe attends memorial service for Sri Lankan woman who died in custody at immigration center [March 2 & 7, 2022]