Tochigi man becomes first Sri Lankan granted refugee status in Japan

A Sri Lankan man living in Tochigi Prefecture became the first person from his country to be granted refugee status in Japan in August.
Refugee applications from Sri Lankans have increased suddenly over the past three years as the civil war there intensified. The issue of how to handle Sri Lankan refugees has become a world issue in recent years, with international human rights groups accusing the Sri Lankan government and military of violating the rights of ethnic Tamils. However, until August none of the Sri Lankan applicants in Japan had been successful, and had become a symbol of the country's "exclusivist" refugee policy.

Armed conflict between the ethnic Sinhalese-dominated government and the Tamil Tigers -- made up of minority Tamils -- began in 1983. The sides came to a cease fire in 2002, but fighting flared up again in 2006. The successful refugee applicant, himself an ethnic Tamil, fled to Japan in July of that year after he was threatened by the Tigers when he refused to lend the group support.

Refugee applications from Sri Lankans rose from 27 in 2006 to 90 in 2008, making them the third largest group of applicants to Japan after Myanmar and Turkey. Other than those from Myanmar, the immigration bureau has not released refugees' countries of origin since 2006, citing personal privacy and diplomatic concerns. Last year, Japan received 1,599 refugee applications of which 57 were granted, including 54 from Myanmar.

On a visit to Japan in November, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres strongly suggested the country improve its refugee policy, citing the extremely low number of successful applicants, and the apparent preference for Myanmarese.

Under the U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is defined as someone who has fled their country due to the risk of persecution on racial, religious or political grounds. Japan began accepting refugees under the Refugee Recognition Law in 1982, and individual applications are approved or denied by the Minister of Justice. Japan also granted refugee status to people from three Southeast Asian countries in the late 1970s under a special measure approved by the Cabinet.
Courtey
The Mainichi Daily News