The following is a summary of the article “Why Japan’s refugee recognition rate is pretty much lower than in Europe and the United States, even though the number of people forced to leave their hometowns is at an all-time high.” (2025-01-25 AERA dot.)
Japan’s refugee recognition rate is low, reaching only 3.8% in 2023, which is extremely low compared to the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The main reasons for this are the “management” perspective of the Immigration Bureau, which is in charge of screening, and Japan’s unique “individual understanding theory.” This may violate international standards, which require refugee status to be determined in favor of applicants even when the scope of refugee recognition is narrow and there is insufficient evidence. In addition, when Japan accepted refugees after the invasion of Ukraine, the support system was proven, and it is important to demonstrate political leadership and move forward with accepting refugees.
Some people are granted asylum based on humanitarian considerations.
An application for refugee recognition is a procedure for foreign nationals in Japan to be recognized as refugees or persons eligible for complementary protection as stipulated in the Refugee Convention. If you are able to receive either certification, you will be issued a respective certificate and granted a status of residence such as “Long Term Resident”. Additionally, even if neither certification is obtained, residence may be decided from a humanitarian standpoint during the same procedure.
Refugee recognition rate and total protection recognition rate
The refugee recognition rate is calculated by dividing the number of applications for refugee recognition divided by the number of cases recognized as refugees, and Japan has been criticized both at home and abroad for its extremely low numbers. However, I think it is necessary to take into account the number of people whose residence has been decided from a humanitarian standpoint.
Statistics showing these numbers are published on the website of the Immigration Services Agency.
Status of refugee protection etc. in Japan, 2023
| 1) Number of applications | 13,823 |
| 2)Settled refugees | 47 |
| 3) Convention refugees | 303 |
| 4) Complementary protected persons | 2 |
| 5)Other protection | 1,005 |
| 6) Refugee, subject of complementary protection asylum seekers and others total | 1,357 |
The refugee recognition rate and total asylum recognition rate for 2023 calculated from the above are as follows.
| Refugee recognition rate （B+C)/A | 2.5% |
| Total protection recognition rate F/A | 9.8% |
Protection rate seen in graph
The numbers vary from year to year. The table above doesn’t really tell you much about it, so I made it into a graph. The graph below is published on our office’s website.
From 2022 onwards, the reason why there are many other protection cases (=number of people whose residence has been decided from a humanitarian standpoint) is mostly due to the situation in Myanmar, and the low number of applications from 2020 to 2022 is due to the coronavirus pandemic. For this reason, the period from 2021 to 2023 shows an abnormal value, so I think the period from 2014 to 2020 can be used as a reference as a trend in Japan’s “attitude” towards protecting refugee recognition applicants.
Both numbers are still low, but the “total protection recognition rate,” not the refugee recognition rate, should be the number used to judge Japan’s “attitude” toward protecting refugee recognition applicants.