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Hi Blog . The Japan Times reported UN Special Rapporteur Bustamante’s interim comments during his current-two-week fact-finding mission to Japan, particularly as pertains to the GOJ visa system that deports people even if it means splitting apart families (cf. the Calderon Noriko Case).
Dr Bustamante takes a very dim view of this below. He will also be giving a press conference this Wednesday, March 31. I hope the information we at FRANCA provided him last week will also be factored into his statements and advice. Arudou Debito in Tokyo
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The Japan Times, Sunday, March 28, 2010
Deportation rule troubles U.N. official (excerpt)
By MASAMI ITO, Staff writer, Courtesy of John in Yokohama
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100328a2.html
A recent government decision to deport only the parents of families without residency status, thus separating children from their mothers and fathers, flies in the face of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Jorge Bustamante, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, said Saturday in Tokyo.
Fact-finding: Jorge Bustamante, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, greets Noriko Calderon, the daughter of a deported Filipino couple, in Tokyo Saturday. Lawyer Shogo Watanabe, who represents her family, also attended the meeting. KYODO PHOTO
Bustamante, who is on his first official fact-finding mission to Japan, is meeting with government officials, nongovernmental organizations, legal experts and foreign residents, and is expected to submit a report on Japan to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
On Saturday, he met with residents caught in the deportation dilemma — among them Noriko Calderon, a 14-year-old girl who was born in Japan to an undocumented Filipino couple. Calderon’s case drew media attention when her parents were deported last spring.
“It is very difficult to live separated from my parents, and I miss them very much,” Calderon said. “But I hope that one day, all three of us can live in Japan together and I plan to do my best” to realize that goal.
Bustamante expressed concern over the separation of families and said he would cite the situation in his report.
“It’s going to be made public,” Bustamante told the gathering. “And this, of course, might result in an embarrassment for the government of Japan and therefore certain pressure (will be) put on the government of Japan.”
Rest of the article at
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100328a2.html
ENDS
3 comments on “Japan Times: UN Rep Bustamante meets Calderon Noriko, comments on GOJ harsh visa system that separates families”
Japanese article here:
比少女が国連報告者と面会 両親退去で人権問題調査
http://www.47news.jp/CN/201003/CN2010032701000195.html
比少女が国連報告者と面会 両親退去で人権問題調査
不法滞在の両親が昨年４月に強制退去処分となり、一人だけ在留特別許可を与えられた日本生まれのフィリピン人カルデロン・のり子さん（１４）＝埼玉県蕨市立中２年＝が２７日、移民問題の調査のために来日した国連人権理事会のブスタマンテ特別報告者と東京都内で面会した。
のり子さんは「両親と離れて暮らすのはつらいし悲しい。いつか家族３人で日本で暮らせるよう頑張るので応援してください」と日本語で訴えた。支援者の渡辺彰悟弁護士は、両親の強制退去の経緯を説明。「児童の権利条約を軽視している」と政府の対応を批判した。
面会には、のり子さんのほか強制退去処分を受けた４家族１４人の在日外国人が出席。それぞれの現状を説明した。
ブスタマンテ氏は昨年２月、のり子さんと両親の処遇について、日本政府に文書で照会するなどの調査を開始。移民問題の特別報告者の来日は初めてで、のり子さんのケースを含む在日外国人の問題全般を調査し、国連人権理事会に報告する。
ends
I’ve done some searches in the news on major newspaper sites and google and such for 国連人権理事会, ブスタマンテ, and the like and have found the same article in only a few places. Why is this not in the major papers? I find it unsurprising, but disappointing.
Has anyone actually seen this in the news?
In the 80s the term “Japan bashing” came into vogue for portraying Japan as victim of the US press.
Perhaps rather than take on the entire UN, the Japanese media have decided to remain silent on the topic, ie. give the issue a kind of hikikomori cold shoulder?
— No, see the blog entry on Bustamante’s press conference. I included all press coverage I could find.