Selected Protection Issues of Concern
6.1 Detention Conditions
The majority of asylum seekers in Japan make in-country applications and do not claim at ports of entry. Before 2001 the Ministry of Justice did not release statistics that identified where an asylum application was made. Now, applications under ICRRA Article 18-2 are published but the place of application of those applying under ICRRA Article 61-2 is not officially disclosed (see Table 3). In addition NGOs estimate that “thousands” are denied entry and deported without proper consideration of their claims and following detention at the Landing Prevention Facility (LPF) or the Airport Rest Houses (ARH). No official figures are published as to the numbers of people detained in the LPF and ARH. However, information obtained from immigration officials by Amnesty International during a visit in 2000 to the LPF at Narita Airport, Tokyo, revealed that “a daily average of some seven persons were detained in the LPF”. Based upon this figure and the number of LPFs and ARHs, the estimate of “thousands” of “invisible detainees” being deported without having entered Japan is realistic. In addition to those detained at LPFs or ARHs anyone who is deemed to fall within the provisions for deportation set out in ICRRA Article 24 will be detained at an Immigration Detention House or Centre. In all three types of detention facility the evidence suggests that there is a serious risk of a breach of an individual’s human rights.