Japan withdraws immigration bill after death of Sri Lankan sparks criticism
18/05/2021 16:58
TOKYO, May 18 (Reuters) - Japan's government on Tuesday
withdrew a bill that would have made it easier to deport failed
applicants for refugee status, officials said, after the death
in March of a Sri Lankan woman at an immigration detention
centre sparked criticism.
Members of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's ruling Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP) abandoned their attempt to pass an
overhaul of the immigration law, party officials said, which
would have meant asylum seekers could be deported after their
third failed application.
The government had said the change would solve the problem
of long detentions of asylum seekers. Lawyers, opposition
lawmakers and human rights groups said it ran counter to
international norms.
Japan's treatment of foreigners facing deportation was put
under the spotlight again after the death of 33-year-old Wishma
Sandamali at an immigration detention centre in central Nagoya.
Sandamali died in early March after complaining of stomach
pain and other symptoms from mid-January, Kyodo news reported.
She went to police in August for help with domestic violence and
was then detained for overstaying her visa, Kyodo said.
Opposition lawmakers had pushed authorities to show
Sandamali's family video footage of her taken while she was in
custody but that was turned down on security concerns, according
to officials.
Criticism of the bill mounted online and one ruling party
official told Reuters there was no point in pushing it through,
given the growing backlash. Suga's support fell below 33% in a
recent poll by the Jiji news agency, reflecting frustration over
his handling of the pandemic.
Japan has long been reticent about immigration and asylum,
despite an ageing population and shrinking workforce that
economists say could be alleviated by accepting more immigrants.
In 2019, just 0.4% of asylum applications were successful in
Japan, against 25.9% in Germany and 29.6% in the United States.
Under the current system, some asylum seekers are granted
provisional release from detention centres during their asylum
process, meaning they can live relatively freely although they
cannot work. Others are held in the centres, where they spend
months or even years.
(Reporting by Ami Miyazaki and Yoshifumi Takemoto; Writing by
David Dolan; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Giles Elgood)
((david.dolan@tr.com; +81 3 6441 1526; Reuters Messaging:
david.dolan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))