Japan to accept 30 Myanmar refugees residing in Thailand

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20081219p2a00m0na016000c.html

The Japanese government has announced that it will accept 30 refugees from the war-torn nation of Myanmar from fiscal 2010, the first time an Asian country has formally accepted refugees who reside in another nation after fleeing their home country.

The decision was made by an inter-governmental panel on the topic by 11 ministries and agencies at a meeting on Friday. There are plans to possibly increase the number accepted in the future.

The 30 will be selected during the next fiscal year, with cooperation from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR).


Under the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law, interviews for prospective refugees can usually only be carried out within Japan. When candidates are refugees who are living in another country after fleeing their home nation, however, the law allows government representatives to go to the refugees' country of residence. They are currently living in Thailand.

Japan accepts refugees who have been recommended by the UNHCR as needing protection, and are deemed as families capable of fitting into Japanese society. The government will give them Japanese language lessons and job placement and training.

Some 75,300 refugees who were residing in other countries after fleeing their home countries were relocated to 14 foreign countries during fiscal 2007, according to UNHCR, with 48,300 settling in the United States. The majority were from Myanmar or Somalia.