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apfseditor On December 18, 2014, a total of 32 irregular migrants, including 26 Sri Lankan nationals and 6 Vietnamese nationals, were forcibly deported by chartered flight. The deportees were 31 men and 1 woman aged between 25 and 64 (Asahi Shimbun, December 20, 2014).
The Ministry of Justice and the Immigration Bureau have already deported 75 Filipinos on July 6, 2013, and 46 Thais on December 8, 2013, on charter flights. APFS conducted an investigation in the Philippines from July 25 to July 28, 2013, and found that none of the deportees were able to find work and were struggling to make ends meet. Some were also separated from their partners and children living in Japan and were exhausted both physically and mentally. It was also discovered that some of them sustained bruises during the deportation process. The deportation to the Philippines on charter flights was recently questioned in the Diet on November 5, 2013, raising doubts about humanitarian considerations and human rights protection.
On March 22, 2010, ABUBAKAR AWUDU SURAJ (Ghanaian national), who was being supported by APFS in obtaining special residence permission, died during a government-sponsored deportation, and a lawsuit seeking state compensation is still ongoing. The first instance ruling found that the immigration officials used excessive force. The fact that forced deportations have been resumed while the truth of the incident, in which the actions of immigration officials at the time of deportation are still being called into question, is nothing short of outrageous.
Among the 32 people deported to Sri Lanka and Vietnam on December 18 were some who had just been confirmed not to have been recognized as refugees, and criticism has surfaced that "they have been deprived of the right to file a lawsuit to have their refugee denial overturned within six months" (Mainichi Shimbun, December 19, 2014). The recent mass deportations include not only those preparing to file lawsuits seeking refugee status, but also those who have been separated from their families, including children under the age of one, and have been criticized as "posing a humanitarian problem" (Nihon Keizai Shimbun, December 20, 2014). Furthermore, some of the deportees have no base of life in their home countries and may end up homeless.
Furthermore, according to The Japan Times (December 20, 2014), this was the first time that not only overstayers but also asylum seekers were deported by charter flight. Among those who were not recognized as refugees were political refugees and those who had actually been involved in anti-government movements, such as demonstrations in front of their home country's embassy in Japan, and they may be at risk of persecution after returning home. In this sense, the possibility of harm to the welfare of the deportees is significantly higher than in the two forced deportations by charter flights last year. Although not illegal, such mass deportations raise questions about the government's abuse of power.
Furthermore, repatriations on charter flights out of reach of the general public pose greater safety issues than repatriations on regular aircraft, and mass repatriations that ignore the individual circumstances of those being deported are inhumanely unacceptable.
APFS firmly protests the forced deportation on charter flights to Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
December 22, 2014
APFS (ASIAN PEOPLE'S FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY)