Lack of legal protection
・Asylum seekers live side-by-side with the risk of detention and have no social security. Even after
they obtain refugee status, there is no systematic social support in place for them and many find it
difficult to integrate into Japanese society.
・The background factors to this are inadequate understanding of international human rights law as
well as a lack of interest into human rights laws by the judicial branch of the government.
・“The Basic Plan for Immigration Control” was announced in March 2005, and concerns over
tightening border control and security have influenced refugee status determinations.
・Multiculturalism at the domestic level and political humanitarianism at the international level ought
to be promoted. While dispatch of the Japan Self Defense Forces overseas could be a gesture of
humanitarian policy by Japan, so would the receiving of refugees, which would be an important policy
to shore up Japan’s position on the international stage.
・In Japan, international human rights law is given a low profile. It ought to be a part of the domestic
law and positioned superior to statutes. However cases related to immigration matters have only indicated the judiciary’s indifference to human rights issues. For example, in 1979, the Supreme Court
declared that foreigners in Japan enjoy rights only to the extent permitted by their residence status,
giving no rights to non-status foreigners in Japan. This demonstrates why most asylum seekers are not
protected nor given assistance under the law.