Japan may explicitly legalize providing personal information on people seeking asylum to authorities in their country of origin, where they fear persecution, lawyers said Monday.

In April, legal amendments aimed at cracking down on human-trafficking were approved by the House of Councilors — including a revision to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law.

The revision, which is now before the House of Representatives, states that the justice minister may provide information to foreign authorities "if necessary to carry out tasks related to immigration control and refugee recognition."

Lawyer Tadanori Onitsuka, who represents people seeking asylum, criticized the amendment, saying Japan would be cooperating with foreign authorities who pose a persecution threat.

"If this revision is enacted, people will not be able to seek asylum (in Japan)," Onitsuka said. "If information on asylum seekers is to be provided to their alleged persecutors, their family members remaining in (their home countries) could face persecution."

There is currently no legal provision that stops Japan from such action.

Last summer, immigration officials traveled to Turkey to investigate the backgrounds of Kurds seeking asylum in Japan. Onitsuka pointed out that the immigration officials provided the Turkish government with personal information, including the names of the people in question.

Amnesty International has slammed the action, saying "the Japanese government has increased the risk of serious human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment" in the event the people are sent back to their home country.

One of the Kurds targeted in the "investigation" said Japanese officials along with Turkish police and military officials went to the home of his family. There, his brother was asked various questions, including what kind of activities the Kurd had engaged in, why he traveled to Japan and why he was seeking asylum.

"Because of this (investigation), my family had to flee from home," the Kurdish man told The Japan Times. "Even now, no one answers the phone in the house. I have no means to contact them, and I have to wait for the very seldom phone calls I receive from them."

The Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau said Japan routinely exchanges information with foreign immigration officials on certain cases, including on investigations into immigration law violations.

Regarding asylum cases, a senior official at the Immigration Bureau said that if the fact of seeking asylum has already been made public, Japan may exchange relevant information with the country of origin for factual confirmation of their situation there.

This will include a situation in which a person seeking asylum has been denied refugee status and has filed suit seeking to have the rejection overturned, thereby publicly contesting the immigration decision, the official said.

"(This law) does not mean that we will provide any information that has been requested by the other government," the official argued.

"We will carefully consider each person's situation so as not to create the danger of persecution."