Opinion

The Japanese authorities are trying to adopt an amendment to the immigration control law stipulating discriminative measures on the pretext of strictly inspecting entry and exit of foreigners.

The new amendment will reportedly stipulate that foreigners who repeat the application for refugee more than three times would be sent back to their countries.

With regard to the issue of refugees, international law specifies that repatriation of all the applicants for refugee must be suspended with the tragedy that occurred when Kurds who had been recognized as refugees by the UN standards were forcibly sent back to Turkey and so parents and children were separated from each other in 2005 as an occasion.

The amendment to the immigration control law, a product of national chauvinism, is faced with strong opposition at home and abroad.

On the night of May 12 when the deliberation of the amendment began in the House of Councilors, a rally took place in front of the Diet building in protest against it involving over 4 000 persons and more than 200 000 people signed against it.

A resident who participated in the protest rally said that approval of the amendment is like admitting that foreigners can be sent back or discriminated. He criticized the authorities, saying the provision of meals and medical system for foreigners accommodated in the immigration control facilities saw no improvement even after the death of a foreign woman.

A Sri Lankan, she was dead as she had not received proper medical assistance in a Nagoya immigration control facility in March 2021.

Denouncing the current amendment of the Japanese authorities as a violation of international law, several special rapporteurs of the United Nations Human Rights Council sent a joint letter to demand their correction of the amendment.

However, the Japanese authorities insist on it, a concentrated expression of their ingrained national chauvinism.

There is saying that if you make others shed tears, you will shed your blood.

The Japanese authorities should think deeply about the consequences to be entailed by the national chauvinist policy.