Groups plan to bring refugees to Japan for skilled work, studies

Asahi Shimbun

3 days ago

Nana Yamamoto, right foreground, and Hiroaki Ishii, left foreground, pose with Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, southeast Bangladesh. (Provided by Mobility for Humanity)
Organizations are trying to bring overseas refugees to Japan to ease labor shortages, improve the economy and help Tokyo respond to international calls to do more to support displaced people around the world.
The plan is to place those fleeing war or persecution into Japan's 'specified skilled worker' system or accept them as students.
These routes would be outside the Japanese government system for recognizing refugee status, which is known for its low acceptance rates.
The United Nations, which marked its World Refugee Day on June 20, has been calling on member states to accept more refugees in similar manners to deal with the growing humanitarian crisis.
Around 1 million minority Muslim Rohingya people who have fled military-controlled Myanmar are crowded in a refugee camp in southeast Bangladesh.
Nana Yamamoto, co-leader of Mobility for Humanity, a nonprofit based in Tokyo, visited the camp in April.
She saw refugees taking online courses for university applications and other purposes. Refugees around 20 years old told her passionately in English that they want to enter the business world as a career, while others intend to help fellow refugees around the world.
Mobility for Humanity is working on a new program to select young refugees at the camp who want to work or study in Japan.
They could apply as specified skilled workers, a status-of-residence category set up in 2019 to help Japan address its labor shortages.
The system allows workers under that category to become economically independent.
Type 1 specified skilled workers can stay in Japan for up to five years. They can try to obtain Type 2 status with 'expert skills,' making them eligible for permanent residency.
Applicants for Type 1 status must take a Japanese proficiency test and a skill test for the corresponding industrial fields.
Mobility for Humanity plans to start offering training in the Japanese language and in industrial skills, particularly agriculture, at the camp as early as autumn, and have 10 or so refugees come to Japan next year.
Officials of the nonprofit said they hope the refugees can continue studying Japanese in the country. They added that they plan to work with local governments, businesses and other parties to ensure respective communities will embrace the refugees in an organized manner.
'Many refugees at the camp have no future to envisage because they have no opportunities to take regular education courses or land jobs,' Yamamoto said. 'The status of specified skilled workers would certainly give them big hopes for rebuilding their lives.'
She said the newcomers would be contributing to Japan not just as workers but also as taxpayers and consumers.
'I hope to help design a mechanism that would allow both parties to carve out their respective futures,' she said.
SYRIANS, AFGHANS ALREADY COVERED
Hiroaki Ishii, co-leader of Mobility for Humanity with Yamamoto, has also been working for Pathways Japan, a public interest incorporated foundation based in Tokyo, to bring refugees to Japan as international students.
Pathways Japan and a partner group have provided free education to about 200 individuals from Syria and Afghanistan at universities and Japanese language schools in Japan since 2017.
Those who have finished the corresponding programs are working for businesses and other entities as highly skilled professionals.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency has also been inviting Syrians who have fled to neighboring countries as international students to Japan since fiscal 2017. More than 80 of them have arrived under the program through last fiscal year.
From fiscal 2023, JICA expanded the program to cover refugees from Myanmar.
Not everyone is eligible for the student program. But the specified skilled worker system is expected to further broaden the range of eligibility for admission.
Japan recognized 190 individuals as refugees last year, reaching triple-digit figures for the third consecutive year. The nation has also started a system of 'complementary protection,' which is commensurate with refugee protection.
However, most of the more than 10,000 refugee status applications filed every year end up being rejected.
Many refugees are dying on dangerous voyages toward Europe and the United States.
The United Nations adopted a Global Compact on Refugees at its General Assembly in 2018. It has been calling on member states to work with concerted efforts of the entire society, including businesses and universities, to ensure refugees' access to 'safe and lawful' pathways, such as education and employment.