Japan Press Weekly

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2020 October 28 - November 3 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

JCP urges Justice Ministry to eliminate human rights violations in immigration detention center

Members of the Japanese Communist Party Sumida District Committee in Tokyo and JCP members of Ibaraki’s Ushiku City Assembly on October 30 petitioned the Justice Ministry to eliminate human right violations against foreign detainees in an immigration control center in Ushiku City.

The petitioning was joined also by JCP member of the House of Councilors Yamazoe Taku and a Sumida residents’ group working to support foreign detainees.

In the petitioning, JCP Sumida District Committee Chair Ito Daiki pointed out that foreign detainees in the Higashi-Nihon Immigration Center are denied access to proper medical services, and stressed that the center should be staffed with medical professionals in order to provide appropriate care to detainees. Noting that foreign detainees are handcuffed and tied to a rope when taken to hospitals outside the facility, Ito claimed that the center should stop treating detainees like criminals.

In response, a Justice Ministry official said that the immigration control center gives adequate health care to detainees and that the use of handcuffs and ropes is precautions to prevent escape.

Yamazoe said, “It is unreasonable to assume that all detainees may attempt to run away whenever they have a chance to go outside the facility. The use of physical restraints should be judged on a case by case basis.”

Ito reported on the interviews with foreign detainees which he had during his visit to the immigration control center with the local supporters’ group on October 9.

According to Ito, a Peruvian man has been confined in the facility for three years and eight months without explanation. Ito quoted the man, who has lower-back pain, as saying, “I asked a center officer to give me another type of painkiller because the current one is not working well. But I was told that if I did not like the medication just stop taking the medication altogether.” Ito said that the facility does not pay due attention to the human rights of foreign detainees.

Past related article:
> JCP lawmakers talk with civil groups supporting immigrants and refugee status seekers [July 19, 2020]