'Mom, who gave you these?' Foreigners in Japan with no status wish to work to exit poverty
The woman, who is from an African country, arrived in Japan in 2018 and had four children with her partner she met in Japan. In a tearful appeal at a press conference on July 10, after losing her residency status and national health insurance, she pleaded for the opportunity to work and raise her children like other parents.
She has two daughters, aged 6 and 3, and 2-year-old twin sons. One of the twins has a serious illness apparently requiring three surgeries. Although the child underwent the first surgery last year, the mother's application for refugee status was later rejected, stripping the family of residency eligibility and access to Japan's national health insurance system. As a result, the remaining two necessary surgeries have become financially unattainable.
Currently, she lives under a supervisory arrangement permitting limited social activities under the oversight of supporters, relying on assistance provided by support groups.
When the woman gave clothes to her eldest daughter, she chose not to mention they had been donated by a support organization. However, the child immediately asked, "Mom, who gave you these?" Unable to answer, the woman said that the experience deeply pained her.
"I want to be able to work like everyone else, and raise my children," the woman said through tears at the press conference organized by the Anti-Poverty Campaign, a group supporting impoverished residents. She is currently undergoing a second attempt at refugee recognition.
In May, Japan's Immigration Services Agency published a "zero illegal overstay plan," urging individuals without residency status to return to their countries. According to agency data, as of Jan. 1 this year, there were 74,863 people overstaying in Japan -- about one-quarter of the peak 298,646 recorded in 1993.
At the press conference, foreign residents in Japan shared their hardships. Kenji Utsunomiya, director of the Anti-Poverty Campaign, stated, "Instead of targeting vulnerable people, we must protect the human rights and dignity of all people living in Japan," adding, "This House of Councillors election will test our commitment to freedom, human rights and democracy."
(Japanese original by Daiki Yano, Yokohama Bureau)
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