Japan plans to establish ‘quasi-refugee’ system as war in Ukraine adds urgency

The government plans to expedite a new “quasi-refugee” system in which people fleeing conflicts who do not qualify as refugees in the country can still be protected under Japanese law.

The measure was included in a bill to amend the immigration control and refugee recognition law, which was scrapped last year. The government plans to resubmit the bill to parliament after this summer’s House of Councilors election.

Under the U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a foreign person who may face persecution “for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”

As such, the Japanese government takes the position that those who have fled conflicts between countries do not qualify as refugees. Those who have escaped the fighting in Ukraine have therefore been described instead as “evacuees.”

The new bill designates such people as being subject to “complementary protection,” enabling them to receive the same treatment afforded to refugees, including rights to permanently reside in the country. A similar program is in place in European countries.

The scrapped bill would have enabled Japan to forcibly send back asylum-seekers who have applied three or more times by creating an exemption to the rule that deportations be suspended during the refugee application process.

The policy, aimed at preventing the prolonged detainment of foreign nationals illegally staying in Japan, met resistance from opposition parties, which sought to have the measure removed from the bill.

The opposition parties also demanded that the government investigate the death of a Sri Lankan woman in detention at an immigration facility, resulting in the bill’s abandonment.

The government is considering submitting the bill again, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference Tuesday. “We will make efforts to ensure that people who truly need protection are appropriately protected.”

The bill “needs to be enacted at any cost,” a senior Justice Ministry official said, signaling a sense of urgency because of the war in Ukraine.

The CDP, Japan’s largest opposition party, remains steadfast in its call for the bill to be revised.

“There are serious doubts about the immigration authorities’ handling (of the Sri Lankan woman),” Sumio Mabuchi, the CDP’s parliamentary affairs chief, told a news conference Wednesday.

But some opposition lawmakers are supportive of the bill. At a news conference, Fumitake Fujita, secretary-general of Nippon Ishin no Kai, expressed hopes for the establishment of a legal system to protect people fleeing conflicts.