It accepts less than 1% of asylum-seekers, but is ramping up deportations
life has been in limbo since 1991, when she fled Nigeria, in fear of genital mutilation and persecution as a political activist. She came to Japan, one of the few countries willing to issue her a short-term tourist visa. Her refugee application was rejected, but, by reapplying, she managed to stay. Lacking permission to work, she relies on food handouts.
Ms Obueza’s plight is all too common. Less than 1% of applicants are granted asylum—last year just 202 people, a miserable figure but still the highest to date. Applicants wait for years while their applications are reviewed, with few rights and at constant risk of detention. At the end of 2021, 13,000 foreigners in Japan were applying for refugee status. Things are about to get even grimmer for them.
Japan’s ageing society depends ever more on foreigners; the number of migrant workers has nearly tripled over the past decade, reaching 1.8m in 2022. Yet the government has kept its hardline approach to refugees, arguing that too many fake refugees are abusing the system to enter the country. In reality, says Ibusuki Shoichi, a human-rights lawyer, by ramping up deportations, the Japanese government is “pressing the execution button” for those in need of protection.
Japan’s refugee policy had briefly seemed to be easing. After Russia’s invasion, Japan accepted more than 2,300 Ukrainians. But at the same time the government made its interpretation of therefugee convention more restrictive, to exclude those fleeing conflicts. Ukrainians, as “quasi-refugees” or temporary “evacuees”, got one-year residents’ permits. Nor did other nationalities receive similar hospitality.
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