Japan Press Weekly

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2013 February 27 - March 5 [WELFARE]

Ordinance bill to ‘keep an eye on’ welfare recipients attracts popular criticism

Public criticism has been growing in regard to a municipal ordinance bill to encourage citizens to inform the authorities when they find welfare benefit recipients “wastefully” spending money.

Horai Tsutomu, mayor of Ono City, Hyogo Prefecture, on February 20 suddenly submitted the draft bill to the city assembly.

The bill prohibits welfare and childcare allowance recipients from receiving benefits illegally and spending a significant amount of the money on pachinko (Japanese pinball) or gambling such as at bicycle and horse races. In addition, it requires city residents to report such behavior to the authorities.

According to the bill, when the mayor is informed the existence of “suspicious conduct” by welfare recipients, “improvement committee” members, including former police officers, will carry out an investigation.

Japanese Communist Party member of the Ono City Assembly Fujiwara Akira said, “It is problematic to have local people keep watch on each other and oblige them to inform on each other to the city government. I will work for the withdrawal of the draft bill.”

The assemblyman has received a lot of complaints from local residents, such as “This is a scary city,” and “The authorities are promoting a disregard of human rights, bullying, and discrimination.”

Moriguchi Masayoshi, the chair of the Kobe City Council for Promotion of Social Security, condemned the mayor and his government, saying, “The bill treats the people on welfare as criminals. Such an idea stems from prejudice and contempt for them. It sadly reflects the current of the times to regard welfare recipients as wicked persons.”

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The Japan Lawyers Association for Freedom (JLAF) Hyogo Prefectural Branch on March 4 issued a statement criticizing the ordinance bill as unconstitutional.

The statement says that requiring citizens to report such information to the authorities will be an invasion of personal privacy and a breach of the Japanese Constitution.