Calls for Japan to Release Asylum Seeker Activist
Lawyers have called for the release of an asylum seeker being held in solitary confinement in Japan. The detention is part of a crackdown on foreigners living in the country without visas.
Elizabeth Aruoriwo Obueza, a prominent Nigerian asylum seeker and activist, is being held in a Tokyo detention center. Rights groups and lawyers claim she has been detained because of her activism.
“Elizabeth is held in solitary because she’s an activist, and immigration officials don’t want her causing trouble,” said Mitsuru Miyasako, head of the Provisional Release Association in Japan, a group representing refugees and immigrants. “Locking someone up alone in a tiny room is to ruin them psychologically.”
There are some 4,700 people living in Japan on “provisional release” from immigration detention, a status that excludes them from working or traveling freely. Many foreigners living in Japan without a visa or asylum status work in the black economy, especially the construction sector.
Obueza, who has lived in Japan without a visa since 1991 after fleeing female genital mutilation in Nigeria, was detained before in 2011 for 10 months.
“I want to help people,” Obueza told Reuters during a visit to the detention center. “Give me the right to help people – don’t put me in here.”
E.U. Doubles Refugee Aid to Iran
The E.U. has doubled humanitarian aid to Iran in a bid to help Afghan refugees in the country. The move is part of attempts to slow migration into Europe by assisting third-party countries.
Christos Stylianides, the E.U. commissioner for humanitarian affairs, announced the doubling of aid to 12.5 million euros ($13.6 million) this year, primarily to be spent on the health and education of Afghan refugee children.
“It’s better to be close to your home and move back when the situation gets better than to be far away,” Stylianides said in Tehran.
“It’s better for Afghan refugees to integrate in this society than in Europe. Here it’s the same religion, similar mentality, culture. It’s much harder in, let’s say, Germany.”
An estimated 3 million Afghan refugees live in Iran, often in terrible circumstances. Waves of Afghans have been crossing into Iran since the Soviet invasion in the 1980s and the rise of the Taliban.
Hamid Shamsaldili, of Iran’s Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs, said, “I would call it an investment for the European Union. Any kind of support to this country will prevent these people from going to European countries.”
Scots Invited for a Cup of Tea With a Refugee
The Scottish Refugee Council is inviting Scots to meet refugees in an informal setting. The charity has launched a campaign to get people to talk to new arrivals over tea.
The Council said it was time for “a positive conversation” in which Scots and refugees could get to know each other. It follows similar community initiatives such as the Conversation Club in Sheffield that have helped host communities to integrate newcomers.
“The Cup of Tea with a Refugee campaign highlights the fact that refugees are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances,” said the charity’s head of policy, Gary Christie.
“In all the everyday things, refugees are just like us. They are our friends, neighbors and colleagues. They have hopes, dreams and stories to tell like all of us.”
Iranian interpreter Khosrow Zanganeh, who arrived in Glasgow from Iran five years ago and is part of the campaign, said, “This campaign looks at the positive side of things, at creating a warm space where people can engage and get to know each other better.”
Recommended Reads:
- The Guardian: Rising Death Toll in Mediterranean Makes 2016 Deadliest Year Yet
- The Washington Post: The Singular Life of a Syrian Refugee in Japan
- The Economist: Why Uganda Is a Model for Dealing With Refugees
- The Guardian: We Damage Britain by Denying Its Migrant Past