We have submitted a request to the Ministry of Justice regarding the elimination of hate speech and special residence permits.

On Wednesday, October 5, 2016, APFS made the above request to the Ministry of Justice's Human Rights Bureau and Immigration Bureau. The request was realized with the presence of Senator Yoshio Arita.

Article 2 of the Act on the Elimination of Hate Speech (Act on Promoting Measures to Eliminate Unfair Discriminatory Speech and Behavior Against People Originating from Outside Japan) enacted on June 3, 2016 defines the targets of hate speech as "persons who are exclusively natives of a country or region outside Japan, or their descendants and who are lawfully residing in that country or region."

Journalist Ikegami Akira points out the following about the above law: "The subjects it protects are 'people from countries or regions other than Japan who are residing legally, and their descendants.' Illegal residents and other people residing in Japan illegally also have human rights. This article conveys the idea that 'it's okay to discriminate against those who are not legally residing in Japan'" (Mainichi Shimbun, July 1, 2016, morning edition).

Among irregular residents who are not "legal residents," there are some who have been on provisional release for more than seven or eight years. The number of "special residence permits" has been decreasing year by year, remaining at about 2,000 in 2015. We cannot continue to expose irregular residents to hate speech. In order to put an end to hate speech, we need to reduce the number of irregular residents, which is one of its sources. To achieve this, we need not only forced deportation, but also flexible application of "special residence permits."

Based on the above, I have two requests.

1. Please clarify measures to prevent discriminatory behavior against irregular residents.
2. Irregular stays are the cause of discriminatory behavior. Please grant "special permission to stay" to long-term, settled irregular residents as soon as possible.

Regarding 1, we received a response from Mr. Fumihiko Yanaka of the Ministry of Justice's Human Rights Bureau.

Regarding the protection of the human rights of foreign residents, they have been raising awareness of both regular and irregular workers since before the Hate Speech Elimination Act came into force. In addition, following the issuance of a supplementary resolution (a resolution attached to a passed bill that expresses opinions and hopes regarding the implementation) to the Hate Speech Elimination Act, they stated that they will continue their awareness-raising activities without distinction between regular and irregular workers.

When APFS asked whether they would be able to listen to the concerns of undocumented residents who visit the human rights consultation desk, even though they are not "legally residing" as defined by the law, they were told that they would be accepted. However, the explanation from the Ministry of Justice's Human Rights Bureau was unclear as to under what circumstances a consultation case would be prosecuted as a "human rights adjudication case," regardless of whether the case involved a legal or irregular resident. APFS pointed out the need to clearly indicate how a path should be followed when foreign residents seek human rights consultation.

In addition, when we asked how many foreign residents have contacted the Human Rights Hotline regarding human rights, we were told that no statistics were kept. APFS pointed out that it may be necessary to keep statistics in order to consider future policies.

The Ministry of Justice's Human Rights Bureau explained that they have translated the provisions of the Hate Speech Elimination Act into English, Chinese, and Korean and posted them on their website. APFS requested that they improve their public relations efforts. We also proposed that they use NPOs, which currently receive consultations from foreign residents, to promote public relations.

Regarding 2, Mr. Hiroshi Kimizuka, Director of the Adjudication Division of the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, responded to the question.

The Immigration Bureau was also aware of discriminatory behavior against irregular migrants in the comments sections of 2chan and Yahoo!. APFS requested that the number of irregular migrants be reduced in order to put an end to hate speech.

APFS also pointed out that Japan does not have an immigration policy, and requested that the government consider how to deal with irregular residents within the immigration policy. The Immigration Bureau responded that "immigration policy" can be translated as either immigration control policy or immigration policy. However, at the House of Councillors plenary session on January 28, 2016, Prime Minister Abe stated clearly that "we have absolutely no intention of adopting a so-called immigration policy." This highlighted the contradiction between the two.

APFS will continue to make requests regarding the above issues.