APFS "100 Days of Action to Nurture Children's Dreams" General Discussion Meeting

On Sunday, January 17, 2016, a general discussion meeting was held at the Itabashi City Green Hall to conclude the "100 Days of Action to Nurture Children's Dreams." At the start of the discussion, APFS Representative Director Jotaro Kato looked back on the 100 days of action.

At the "Children's Conference" where the activity began, each child wrote their honest feelings on a card. While they spoke about their vision for the future, such as "I want to travel abroad," "I want to get married," and "I want to go to college," they also expressed concerns about not having a residence status, such as "I don't have insurance" and "My name will get known at high school." The "solutions" that the children came up with for obtaining residence status included "asking the media for help," "appealing on TV," and "appealing to the Ministry of Justice," and they considered what they could do themselves. Some of the writings revealed the children's feelings, such as "I want to be free as soon as possible" and "Don't take away my freedom." The "Children's Conference" became an opportunity for the children to think and act for themselves.

Next, in September 2015, lobbying efforts were launched with members of the Diet. Eight children visited Representative Shiori Yamao and directly appealed for their status of residence to be granted.

In October and November, during the "I want to make my dreams come true in Japan! Postcard campaign to support children with irregular residency," children raised their voices in front of the Tokyo Immigration Bureau and asked for signatures on postcards. As a result, nearly 150 postcards were collected and sent to the Ministry of Justice. This activity was also covered by the media. On November 25th, a press conference was held at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, where two representatives of the children answered questions from reporters.

In parallel with these 100-day activities, "support groups" were organized in the areas where the children live, and activities were undertaken to obtain residence status. In particular, a signature campaign carried out in cooperation with the Iranian mother and child collected nearly 2,000 signatures, widening the circle of support.

On December 20th, the group took to the streets of Shibuya and held a parade. After the parade, the "APFS 100 Days of Action to Nurture Children's Dreams Resolution" was unanimously adopted, and with the support of 22 researchers who are conducting research on foreigners and immigrants, the resolution was sent to the Ministry of Justice on January 12th, 2016.

The above was reviewed. One of the results of the activities was the growth of the children. It was reported that children who were hesitant to appear in public have started to tackle their own problems independently. Other results were that interest in undocumented immigrants was raised by communicating through the media and appealing at the parade.

Next, the participants reflected on their actions over the past 100 days and also raised future plans. The children commented that "the activities made me feel more positive," "I want to work hard on signature campaigns in the future," and "I was hurt by heartless words, but I persevered and it gave me confidence." APFS volunteer staff members expressed opinions such as "both the people themselves and Japanese people need to speak out and make more of an appeal about irregular migrants," and "We need to let more Japanese people know that irregular migrants have a hard time getting things that are taken for granted for Japanese people, such as going on to higher education and getting medical insurance." In summary, Advisor Katsuo Yoshinari said to irregular migrants seeking special residence permission, "You should not leave it to others. You can only achieve results by speaking up and taking action yourself," and introduced an episode in which a Burmese woman who was an irregular migrant in the past asked even the person sitting next to her on the train to sign a petition, which led to her obtaining her own residence status.

Finally, the representative director spoke about the next action plan, including requesting action to the Ministry of Justice. The general discussion meeting ended with everyone confirming that they would continue to take steps forward in their activities.

We received support and cooperation from many people during the 100 Days of Action, and we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of you.
The action to obtain permission to stay in Japan will continue. We ask for your continued support and cooperation.