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Japan is
under fire from the UNHCR over its handling of Kurds
from Turkey seeking refugee status in Japan,
particularly the sending of Justice Ministry
officials to investigate the families of the
refugees with the help of the Turkish authorities.
The investigations have stopped the flow of
information from their families in Turkey, prompting
the Office of U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to
announce that refugee applicants and their families
are exposed to danger.
On July 8, Erdal Dogan, 30, a Turkish Kurd living in
Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo, received a photo call
from his elder brother, who said in a tense voice
that a Turkish policeman and a Japanese official
were at his home.
According to the brother, the Japanese identified
himself as a Japanese Embassy staffer and asked him
why Erdal and a younger brother went to Japan and
applied for recognition as refugees, and what
political activities the two had engaged in in
Turkey.
Erdal said he and his brother took part in
demonstrations appealing for protection of Kurdish
rights, and were time and again taken into custody
and tortured.
In 1999, they escaped to Japan and applied for
refugee status.
But the applications have been rejected, and the two
have filed a lawsuit against the Japanese
government.
Since soon after the phone call from his brother,
Erdal has been unable to get in touch with the
brother or his parents. "I think they have escaped
because of fear of the police. The Japanese
government gives no consideration to my family."
To protest against the government's actions, Erdal
began a sit-in in front of the UNHCR's Japan and
South Korea regional office in Tokyo later in July.
The UNHCR said in a guideline compiled in 2001 that
information regarding refugee applications should
not be provided to the applicants' countries. "The
Justice Ministry's investigations are violating the
privacy of refugee applicants," said Nathalie
Karsenty, chief judiciary official at the regional
office.
On Aug 2, the Justice Ministry presented a report
about the result of investigations in Turkey into
Erdal and his brother to the Tokyo District Court,
which is hearing the lawsuit seeking withdrawal of
the Justice Ministry's rejection of their refugee
applications.
The report, concerning 14 Kurdish people, including
Erdal and his brother, said, "Many of the plaintiffs
are presumed to be in Japan to earn money, and there
is a need to inspect their native places and reveal
the living situation."
Akira Tamura, director of the Justice Ministry's
Adjudication Division, denied the ministry is
violating the privacy of the asylum seekers. "The
plaintiffs have started a lawsuit at an open court
by making their names public," he said.
There have been 483 applications for refugee status
in Japan from people with Turkish nationality since
Japan's membership to the Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees became effective in 1982. Most of
them are believed to be Kurds.
Many Turkish Kurds have been recognized as refugees
in Europe and North America, but not one has been
recognized as such by the Japanese government.
In April, the Nagoya and Tokyo district courts ruled
that two Turkish nationals seeking refugee status
should be regarded as refugees, leading the Justice
Ministry to launch its identify investigations in
Turkey.
The Foreign Ministry, which the Justice Ministry
consulted about the investigations in advance,
claims to be in favor of cautious treatment of
individual information, but says there is no
violation of international standards regarding the
convention.
The Justice Ministry denies it is giving priority to
Japan's relations with Turkey in handling the
refugee problem.
However, Takeshi Ohashi, a member of a lawyers'
group helping Kurdish refugees, said, "In view of a
series of circumstances, we have to think that the
Japanese government is reluctant to recognize Kurds
as refugees out of consideration for its diplomatic
relations with the Turkish government."
On Aug 9, Erdal who has been staging the sit-in for
about one month, applied for human rights protection
to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. "I may
be killed if I return home. I cannot trust the
Japanese government," he said. (Kyodo News)
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