Human Rights
Hidden Human Rights Violations in Japan
Japan has an almost hidden level of atrocious human rights violations due to entrenched racism in its society towards foreigners. This is especially directed at foreigners from countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka and entire continents such as Africa. In many cases the color of one’s skin will entirely dictated the experience they have in Japan. The worst of this discrimination and human rights abuse is perpetrated by Japan’s Immigration Department. The Immigration department is a law unto itself and does not answer to the courts. Those placed in immigration detention are treated worse than dogs with no access to their embassy, no access to legal counsel, no right to make even a single phone call and in many cases no access to food. This is because individuals are required to pay for their own food whilst held in immigration detention centers.
As described on the Convictions page, I recently experienced this myself first hand when I was taken to an immigration detention prison whilst awaiting a plane flight back to my own country. I was only there for around 30 hours. I had all my belongings taken away upon entry and was searched before being placed in a cell with no access to the outside world in any way, shape or form; not even a single phone call to seek help. In these prisons you are not even allowed to have a book to read, there are no windows or fresh air and you are not released for any time to have exercise etc. Please examine the text and links below and for more formal information please go to our partner site Japan Human Rights at https://japanhumanrights.com
Whilst frustrating and upsetting, my stay was only a short one and I mostly just kept my head down waiting to get out. I could also sense there was something very wrong about the place and followed the voice in my head to not cause any trouble and just get out without incident. I had not committed any crime in Japan and my only conviction was 37 years earlier in another country yet I was treated worse than a maximum security convicted felon would be in Australia. At least they get 3 meals a day, time for exercise and in most cases access to sunlight and fresh air. None of these things are an option in Japanese immigration detention.
Throughout the process I would watch other inmates from various country approaching the guards area and asking them for help, a phone call or even food. In every case these people were effectively yelled at by the guards to go back to their cell irrespective of how valid their requests were. I even asked myself for access to the Australian embassy or to legal counsel to which I was just told an outright “no” with no explanation whatsoever.
As an older male in this environment, younger men started to come up to me to talk. This started with a reasonably fluent English speaking young man from Pakistan. He told me he did not know why he was there and had been taken straight from his plane into detention. He had been there for 16 days without explanation or access to a single phone call. He could not understand what the guards were saying and neither could I for that matter. He told me his parents were not overly rich but they had saved for a number of years for him to go on a holiday to Japan as a reward for finishing his high school studies. His reward was effectively to be thrown in jail with no explanation, no way of getting help and no end in sight. He went on to explain that he had some money to buy food when he arrived but that had run out on day 10 and he had not eaten for the six days since then. Imagine that was your child being rewarded for finishing year 12. He told me he was broken inside and could not take much more. I agreed with him as even after my staring at the wall for just 24 hours I could feel the psychological harm that was occurring to me.
After talking to him, many more individuals came to me to have a chat. All of them had paid for their own holidays and accommodation and not a single one seemed to have committed any crime whatsoever. They were all polite and not a single tattoo or identifier of any potentially negative history was visible to me. They were all basically good people who had been taken and imprisoned against their will because of the color of their skin or their nationality. They were treated inhumanely at every step of the way by these immigrations officers who were openly racist towards them and appeared to enjoy seeing them suffer. This led me to conclude that Japan is a society made up of extremely racist, narrow minded sadists who take pleasure in torturing foreigners. They most certainly treat dogs better and even give them food but this is not the case in these immigration centers where dealing with foreign tourists is concerned. If you don’t have the money for food you starve to death which records published by Amnesty International clearly show is occurring.
I have included links and more information below and when you realize that this is all true ask yourself if you would wish to have anything to do with a society and its people who do nothing to change this situation. Amnesty international have been reporting these abuses for over 40 years now yet to this very day nothing at all has been done about it and this torture and human rights abuse is still going on right now as you are reading this. Why would you want to be a part of a society who treats people like yourself so badly? Even though it may not be openly admitted to you, you are hated by the Japanese for no other factor than your nationality.
My own experience in this system was only short and therefore not as bad as others but what I was told by so many others I spoke to in there forever changed any respect I may have had for the Japanese. I spoke to people from Africa who had been there more than a month and found out about asylum seekers who had been trapped there for up to two years. Please examine some of the links below for examples of these human rights abuses and ask yourself do you want to be part of a society who essentially hates you from a government level down.
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