When visiting New York for the UN General Assembly in September 2015, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was asked what his country was planning to do in response to the influx of Syrian refugees in Europe. His answer to this predictable question was surprising. Abe said that ‘before accepting immigrants or refugees, [Japan needs] to have more activities by women, elderly people – and we must raise our birth rate’. The fact that protecting refugees is an international legal obligation, not just one policy option states might want to consider when it suits them, never seems to have occurred to Abe.
Japan’s cavalier attitude towards its international human rights obligations is nothing new. However, Abe’s statement also points to two elements of Japanese refugee policy: first Japan has been woefully inadequate in accepting refugees; and second, refugee policy in Japan has been subsumed in the public debate surrounding immigration.
Japan has been woefully inadequate in accepting refugees. Japanese refugee policy remains extremely restrictive. In 2015, there were 7,586 applications for refugee status, of which 27 were accepted. A further 79 cases were accepted on humanitarian grounds, but the total still amounts to only 106 persons. It is not uncommon for asylum seekers to be detained for months or even years during the protracted status determination process. In 2005, in response to sustained criticism, Japan established an independent appeals board, which was a clear improvement; nevertheless, the board’s recommendations are not binding, and recently the government has started to reject appeals despite positive recommendations from the board. And under its pilot refugee resettlement programme, only 86 refugees have been resettled in Japan since 2010.
