We submitted a request to the Ministry of Justice regarding the elimination of hate speech and special permission for residence in Japan.

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

On June 3, 2016, Article 2 of the Act on the Elimination of Hate Speech (Act on the Promotion of Efforts to Eliminate Unfair Discriminatory Speech and Behavior Against Persons of Foreign Origin in Japan) defined the target as "persons who are exclusively from a country or region outside of Japan, or their descendants who reside lawfully in Japan."

Journalist Akira Ikegami pointed out the above law, stating, "The people who are protected are 'people from countries or regions other than Japan who reside legally, and their descendants.' People who reside illegally, such as undocumented immigrants, also have human rights. This article gives the impression that 'it's okay to discriminate against people who are not residing legally'" (Mainichi Shimbun, July 1, 2016, morning edition).

Among undocumented immigrants who are not "legally residing," some have been on provisional release for 7 to 8 years or more. The number of "special permission to stay" has been decreasing year by year, and in 2015 it was only about 2,000. We cannot continue to expose undocumented immigrants to hate speech. In order to bring an end to hate speech, it is necessary to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants, which is one of its root causes. To achieve this, it can be said that not only deportation but also the flexible application of "special permission to stay" is necessary.

Based on the above, I made two requests.

1. Please clarify the measures to prevent discriminatory remarks and actions against undocumented immigrants.
2. Irregular residency is a source of discriminatory speech and behavior. Please promptly grant "special permission to stay" to irregular residents who are long-term residents.

Regarding point 1, we received a response from Mr. Fumihiko Yanaka, attached to the Human Rights Bureau of the Ministry of Justice.

Regarding the protection of the human rights of foreign residents, they stated that they had been conducting awareness campaigns for both regular and non-regular employees, even before the Hate Speech Elimination Act came into effect. Furthermore, in response to the supplementary resolution (a resolution attached to a passed bill expressing opinions and wishes regarding its implementation) issued in connection with the Hate Speech Elimination Act, they stated that they would continue their awareness-raising activities without discrimination between regular and non-regular employees.

APFS asked whether undocumented immigrants visiting the human rights consultation center would be able to receive advice, even though they are not considered "lawfully residing" as defined by law. They were told that consultations would be accepted. However, the explanation from the Ministry of Justice's Human Rights Bureau was unclear regarding the circumstances under which a consultation case would be prosecuted as a "human rights adjudication case," regardless of whether the immigrant was legal or undocumented. APFS pointed out the need to clearly define the procedures for how foreign residents should be handled when they seek human rights advice.

Furthermore, when asked how many human rights-related consultations from foreign residents are received by the human rights consultation desk, the response was that no statistics are kept. APFS pointed out that it would be necessary to collect statistics in order to consider future policies.

The Human Rights Bureau of the Ministry of Justice explained that they have translated the articles of the Hate Speech Elimination Act into English, Chinese, and Korean and posted them on their website. APFS requested that public relations efforts be further enhanced. They also proposed utilizing NPOs that are currently receiving consultations from foreign residents for public relations purposes.

Regarding point 2, we received a response from Mr. Hiroshi Kimizuka, Director of the Adjudication Division, Immigration Bureau, Ministry of Justice.

The Immigration Bureau was aware that discriminatory remarks against undocumented immigrants were being made in the comment sections of 2chan and Yahoo!. APFS requested that the number of undocumented immigrants be reduced in order to contain the hate speech.

APFS also pointed out that Japan does not have an immigration policy and requested that the handling of undocumented immigrants be considered within the framework of immigration policy. The Immigration Bureau responded that "immigration policy" can be translated as both immigration control policy and immigration policy. However, at the House of Councillors plenary session on January 28, 2016, Prime Minister Abe clearly stated that he "has absolutely no intention of adopting a so-called immigration policy." This highlights the contradiction between the two statements.

APFS will continue to make requests regarding the above issues.