Second, in January 2005 the Japanese government deported two UNHCR “mandated” refugees. Until then the Japanese government had respected the principle of non-refoulement under Article 33 of the Convention but the unprecedented deportation of two “mandated” Kurdish asylum seekers was a serious departure from previous policy. The deportations prompted a strong rebuke from UNHCR. It stated that the deportations were “contrary to Japan’s obligations under international law” and were in contrast with Japan’s humanitarian assistance towards refugees and disaster victims abroad. The Ministry of Justice claimed that UNHCR’s criteria for granting mandate status are far wider than that for refugee status and accordingly Japan was not in breach of its obligations under international law. However, this overlooks the importance of the UNHCR mandate in assisting “persons of concern”. In such cases a mandated refugee would normally receive humanitarian status. The political nature of these two refoulement cases is highlighted by the fact that the MoJ did not grant SPR but instead chose deportation. At the time there were a further 25 mandated refugees not recognized by the government. Comments reported in the press at the time suggested not only a political reluctance on behalf of the Japanese government to honour its obligations under international law, but also some confusion as to the legal nature and content of those obligations. In this context it is also important to note that to date no Kurds have been granted refugee status in Japan.