English 
Japanese 
Spanish 
French 
Bengali 
Myanmar 
Nepali 
Tagalog 
Urdu 
Thai 
Persian 
ZWC_yamada 
In Japanese society, there are many people whose existence is forgotten and who cannot speak out, such as the elderly, people with disabilities, and undocumented immigrants. Therefore, APFS has launched the "Path to Hope Project." The "Path to Hope Project" will focus particularly on undocumented immigrants and will work to amplify their voices. We aim to create a tolerant society where undocumented immigrants can live more easily. We will work hand in hand with the elderly, people with disabilities, and others to expand the circle of support. Towards the end of the project, we will compile recommendations toward the legalization of undocumented immigrants. The recommendations will call for amnesty (mass legalization) or a more effective application of special residence permits than currently available.
As part of the project, we began submitting a "simultaneous petition to local assemblies" on Monday, August 18, 2014. The purpose of the petition is to ask the assembly to submit a statement to the national government requesting: 1) the legalization of undocumented immigrants, and 2) the creation of a society where everyone can have "hope."As of Thursday, September 11, 2014, we have submitted petitions to all 36 local assemblies, including the 16 municipalities and the 23 wards of Tokyo where undocumented immigrants currently live, as well as the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly.Thank you all for your cooperation.
Up until now, APFS has repeatedly submitted requests to the relevant government ministries (national agencies) together with those directly affected. However, in recent years, these requests have not been readily accepted. At times like these, we believe it is necessary to steadily build things up from the bottom up. Among the undocumented immigrants, there are some who help disabled people living in their neighborhoods with their shopping or continue to interact with the elderly. We are petitioning local councils with the "hope" that by first making the local councils in the areas where undocumented immigrants live aware of this problem and then having them voice their opinions to the national government, the situation may change, even just a little.
Let me briefly explain the process of reviewing petitions. Petitions are referred to a committee (meaning the review of the proposal is entrusted to another body before a vote in the plenary session), and the committee decides whether to adopt or reject it. After that, the plenary session votes on the committee's decision to adopt or reject the petition.
On September 11th, we presented the purpose of our petition to the Matsudo City Council's General Affairs and Finance Standing Committee. Unfortunately, the petition was not adopted, but we heard comments such as, "Isn't there a need for more flexible application?", "Shouldn't citizens be able to receive services such as national health insurance, schooling, and welfare benefits even if they are not legally staying in the country, since they are actually living in the city?", and "My child was friends with a child who was overstaying their visa, but one day that child was suddenly deported. I struggled with how to explain to my child why that child had disappeared." Although the petition was ultimately not adopted, we believe that it is of great significance that we were able to attract the attention of local council members.
Getting a petition adopted is not easy, but I hope to move forward with this project in order to increase the number of local council members who take an interest in this issue.
We are participating in the crowdfunding site READY FOR? to submit a mass petition to local councils.
The project's goal achievement rate isn't increasing as much as we'd hoped. Please support us by purchasing gifts and sharing the project on Facebook, etc. Thank you for your support.
Towards a society where everyone can have "hope"—a petition project to local councils
https://readyfor.jp/projects/livingtogether