Does Japan Really Deserve To Host G7? Hey, world, the Japanese government doesn’t care about human rights at all

          G7 Hiroshima Summit will be held from May 19th to 21st, 2023 and Japan will host it. Looking back on things that have happened in recent years, I doubt that Japan deserves to be a member of G7.

          What were those things? So many things happened, I have to choose just two of them; the inhumane policy on immigration and Prime Minister Kishida’s reluctance to protection of LGBTQs’ rights.

The immigration and refugee policy’s inhumanity

          Japan’s immigration policy is lacking in transparency and protection of detainees’ human rights. March 6th, 2020, in the Nagoya Immigration Service Bureau, a Sri Lankan woman was found dead while she had been detained there for unlawful stay. Some members of the staff allegedly ignored her complaint that she was sick and didn’t provide proper medical treatments. The police decided not to investigate it as a case and the Bureau didn’t fully open the information including the video of the surveillance camera even to the victim’s mother and sister.

          There are many unlawful residents from foreign countries in Japan who don’t comply with a deportation order for various reasons. Such people are detained in the immigration facility for months or years, and are sometimes abused. The UN Human Rights Committee advised Japanese government to take appropriate measures. However, the government doesn’t seem to be taking legislative action for addressing. 

The ambassadors of G6 countries and EU to Japan sent PM Kishida a letter that is urging him to legislate for protection LGBTQs’ rights

          When a few members of opposition parties discussed legislation for LGBTQs’ rights and same-sex marriage with PM Kishida in Parliament at the beginning of March, Kishida reluctantly said that such laws could change society, therefore it should take time.

          A similar bill was brought by a bipartisan group of the LDP and the CDP two years ago but it was turned down by the interruption from some members of the LDP.

          Ambassadors of the G6 and EU sent a letter that encourages legislation of  such a law according to major media news outlets. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cabinet Secretariat avoided to make a comment about the letter. There is no prospect about the legislation. 

          You may think that Japan is a democratic country that has developed economically and socially. However, it is far behind about ‘human rights’. Such a government that plays down the treatments I mentioned above can’t share the values of democracy countries. I DO say again that Japan does not deserve to host G7 summit at all.