Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2021 January 13 - 19 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

JCP Yamazoe talks with lawyers working on issue of long-term confinement at immigration detention centers

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Yamazoe Taku on January 14 in the Diet building held a meeting with a lawyers’ group and a civil socirty group to exchange views on a bill to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act which the government intends to submit to the ordinary Diet session.

The two groups are working to support refugee status seekers and overstayers who are detained in immigration control centers for an excessively long term.

A member of the lawyers’ group, Ibusuki Shoichi pointed out that it is highly likely that many of foreigners granted provisional release permission will be deported if the revision bill is enacted. Another member, Takahashi Wataru said, “Since the inauguration of the second Abe government, the number of successful applications for special permission to remain in Japan, which is rarely granted to foreign nationals who overstay their visas, has decreased. On the other hand, the number of foreigners experiencing long-term confinement in immigration detention centers has drastically increased.” Lawyer Komai Chie said, “The United Nations recognized Japan’s long-term detention policy as illegal by pointing out that the policy has no judicial review system and fails to set an upper limit on the detention period.”

Secretary General of a civil group named Provisional Release Association in Japan (PRAJ) Miyasako Mitsuru said, “Among refugee status seekers, there is a man whose application for the refugee status has been pending for more than 20 years. He got married to a Japanese woman and is a parent of a senior high school student. Japan is the home country for his child. So, if he is deported, they will be separated.”

Past related articles:
> JCP lawmakers talk with civil groups supporting immigrants and refugee status seekers [ July 19, 2020]
> One in four foreign detainees placed in confinement for more than 18 months [May 30, 2019]