Japan granted refugee status to a record 74 people in 2021, up from 47 the year before, the Immigration Services Agency said Friday, though the figure is still far smaller than in Western countries.
The government also granted residential status out of humanitarian consideration to a record 580 people, of which 498 were people from Myanmar following the February 2021 coup staged by the country’s military.
Of the 74 refugees, 32 were from Myanmar, 18 from China, nine from Afghanistan, four from Iran, three from Yemen, two from Uganda and Cameroon, and one each from Iraq, Ghana, Pakistan and South Sudan.
Due to COVID-19 border restrictions, the number of applicants was low at 2,413, down even from the 3,936 applicants in 2020. In 2019, the number was 10,375.
Japan grants refugee status to those who meet each of the criteria of the Refugee Convention, a U.N. treaty, which describes refugees as people who are:
- Unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.
- Outside the country of their nationality.
- Unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of their country.
The low number granted refugee status by Japan is due to the country’s narrow definition of refugees. That has prompted criticism from refugee support groups and international organizations.
Japan has been accepting Ukrainians fleeing the war in their home country, granting them a special residential status that will allow them to work after they come to Japan on a short-term visa.