宣言・決議・意見書・声明等

President’s Statement Strongly Opposing Resubmission of the Bill to Amend Immigration Laws and Once Again Demanding “True Reform” on the Occasion of the First Anniversary of the Death of Ms. Wishma Sandamali

　On February 19, 2021, the Government submitted to the Diet a “Bill on the Act for Partial Amendment of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act and the Special Act on the Immigration Control of, Inter Alia, Those Who Have Lost Japanese Nationality Pursuant to the Treaty of Peace with Japan” (hereinafter referred to as the “Bill to Amend Immigration Laws”). However, since this Bill to Amend Immigration Laws contained provisions contrary to international law and was unlikely to rectify the problem-ridden reality of detention in immigration facilities, we issued the “President’s Statement Strongly Opposing the Content of the Bill to Amend Immigration Laws (submitted by the Government) and Demanding ‘Abolition of the Bill’” on March 30 of the same year. Subsequently in May 2021, the Government once abandoned its plan to enact the Bill to Amend Immigration Laws and withdrew the Bill, but there is information that the Government is considering resubmission of the Bill to the Diet. If the Bill to Amend Immigration Laws which the Government is considering resubmitting is one that ignores international human rights law as last year's Bill to Amend Immigration Laws, we once again strongly oppose its resubmission to the Diet.

　As is well known, on March 6, 2021, an incident occurred in which Ms. Wishma Sandamali passed away at the detention facility of the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau. One of the causes of her death was the absence of appropriate medical care at the immigration detention facility. The problem is thought to lie also in the provisions of the current Immigration Control Act that lead to allowing “arbitrary detentions” (Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the UN Human Rights Council) at the administrative discretion of immigration authorities, without undergoing any examination by a judicial organ, etc., and without requirements of necessity, appropriateness and proportionality, etc., when deciding whether to detain or not.

　As a matter of course, in order to prevent the recurrence of such a tragedy as in the case of Ms. Wishma Sandamali, it is necessary to investigate the causes that led to Wishma’s death, seek the truth, and carry out necessary reforms based on the results. However, the Ministry of Justice and the immigration authorities continue to take a negative stance on a cause investigation and truth-finding investigation regarding Wishma’s death, such as refusing to provide her bereaved family, contrary to their requests, video data taken of Wishma’s condition prior to her death, and refusing attendance by their attorney-at-law when very limited disclosure of the video was made.

　However, with respect to Wishma’s death, investigation of the underlying causes which led to her death must be conducted by a third-party organization completely independent from the Ministry of Justice and the Immigration Services Agency. On August 10, 2021, the Immigration Services Agency released the “Investigation Report on the Case of Death of a Detainee on March 6, 2021 at the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau” prepared by its investigation team, and based on this report, the “Expert Committee on Strengthening the Medical Care System in Immigration Bureau Detention Centers” submitted a report titled “Proposal on Strengthening of the Medical Care System in Immigration Detention Facilities” to the Immigration Services Agency on February 28, 2022. In this proposal, measures to strengthen the medical care system within detention facilities are considered and recommended, including, in particular, strengthening of the medical care system within a detention facility, establishment and strengthening of a collaboration system with external medical institutions, and upgrading of medical equipment. As a matter of course, strengthening of the medical care system within detention facilities is necessary, but what the case of Wishma’s death indicates is not only the necessity for strengthening of the medical care system.

　With respect to the case of Wishma’s death, we demand that a third-party organization completely independent from the Ministry of Justice and the Immigration Services Agency investigate the causes that led to Wishma’s death and seek the truth, and that on the basis of such truth-finding, reform of Immigration Control Act in the truest sense of the word (“true reform”) will be achieved, realizing “an immigration detention system that guarantees personal freedom and is in full compliance with international human rights law, a refugee recognition system that appropriately protects refugees, and a status of residence system that guarantees the best interests of children and the right to family life”, etc. Further, if the Bill to Amend Immigration Laws which the Government is considering resubmitting is one that ignores international human rights law as last year's Bill to Amend Immigration Laws, we once again strongly oppose such resubmission of the Bill to Amend Immigration Laws.

　March 3, 2022