Human rights training materials from the Immigration Services Agency with everything except the title and date blacked out. Photo taken by Senkinra Kotaro on July 16, 2025.

Is the Immigration Services Agency of the Ministry of Justice really serious about protecting the human rights of foreigners?

Despite a series of violent incidents against foreigners in detention, the immigration bureau has not disclosed the contents of the human rights training for immigration officials or the names of the instructors. When Osaka lawyers seeking to correct immigration administration requested disclosure of the training documents, they found that most of the content had been blacked out.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has made “zero illegal foreigners” a campaign pledge for the Upper House election in July 2025, and the rising Sanseito Party has put forward the slogan “Japanese first.” As the momentum for xenophobia of foreigners grows, won’t the immigration bureau and politics unite and accelerate “government-sponsored hate” that tramples on the human rights of foreigners?

On July 16, lawyers filed a lawsuit against the government in the Osaka District Court, seeking disclosure of human rights training documents provided by the immigration bureau.

Turkish man handcuffed and left alone despite fracture

The incident began in July 2017, when a Turkish man, A, was assaulted by the Osaka Regional Immigration Services Bureau, a detention center.

Turkish man A became angry at the attitude of the immigration detention center’s officials and threw a book against the wall. Seven or eight officials then took Turkish man A to a “protection room,” also called a “punishment room” by detainees, and handcuffed him. They pinned his head and torso to the floor.

Turkish man A broke his right shoulder and sprained his right elbow. Despite his injuries, he was left handcuffed behind his back and was not taken to the hospital immediately.

Regarding this assault, he filed a claim for state compensation in the Osaka District Court in 2018. A settlement was reached in September 2020.

The settlement included two other promises in addition to the government paying Turkish man A 3 million yen.

1. The Director of the Osaka Regional Immigration Services Bureau will take this case seriously and apologize to A.

 

2. The Director of the Osaka Regional Immigration Services Bureau will take this case seriously and strive to provide more appropriate treatment for the detainees at the Osaka Regional Immigration Services Bureau while respecting their human rights.

It is unusual for an apology to be included in a settlement clause, which shows just how vicious the Osaka immigration detention center was.

Immigration bureau: “Training instructors are being slandered”

Immigration detention centers continue to violate the human rights of foreign detainees. In March 2021, a Sri Lankan woman, Wishma Sandamali, died at the Nagoya Regional  Immigration Services Bureau. Despite complaining of feeling unwell and even vomiting, the center did not provide her with the medical care she needed.

Does the immigration administration really have any intention to change its treatment to respect human rights? In December 2022, the lawyers representing Turkish man A’s lawsuit against the state made a request for disclosure of documents that could provide information on the content of the human rights training conducted by the immigration bureau, the instructors, and the impressions of the participants. The period covered was from 2018 to 2022. The request was made under the Freedom of Information Act.

Although 129 documents were disclosed, only the dates and titles of the training sessions were made public, with the rest blacked out. For example, the titles are as follows:

“Human Rights of Immigrants (foreigners) and Japan’s Issues”

 

“International Human Rights Treaties: Related Recommendations and Responses”

 

“Immigration Administration from the Media’s Perspective”

It is impossible to determine whether human rights training contributes to better immigration administration. If we don’t know the instructors’ names, we can’t tell if they’re qualified for the position, and it’s unknown what kind of knowledge they provided to immigration officials and how they educated them.

Why keep it so secret?

The Immigration Bureau’s excuse is as follows.

“There are people who are dissatisfied with the way immigration bureau officials treat detainees and who slander them on a daily basis. If these people don’t see any improvement in the way immigration bureau officials treat detainees after the training, they may go on to slander the instructors who conducted the training.”

However, it is true that immigration bureau officials have assaulted detainees, resulting in injuries, and have caused deaths by failing to provide proper medical treatment. The training is an important public mission to protect the lives and human rights of detainees, and the names of those who carry it out should be made public.The immigration bureau has not disclosed the names of the instructors or the content of the training, citing concerns that disclosing the content would jeopardize the instructors’ trust in the bureau.

The immigration bureau’s attitude is reflected in the reasons for non-disclosure: they have failed to protect the lives and human rights of foreign detainees, yet are overly protective of their own.

“Governement-sponspored hate” riding on “Japanese First” sentiment

It is essential that the withheld information on human rights training be made public. On July 16, four lawyers filed a lawsuit against the government in the Osaka District Court.

Masato Nakai

Eriko Uebayashi

Hideki Okamoro

Kosuke Tejima

At a press conference after filing the lawsuit, Attorney Uebayashi used the term “government-sponsored hate” to explain the background to the lawsuit.

“The Diet has been discussing the worsening of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act for the last few years. The perception that irregular residents are ‘bad and criminals’ has been promoted by the immigration bureau. Opposing views arise when we reject the reforms, and this has resulted in ‘Japanese first’ sentiment and hatred for Kurds. We call this ‘government-sponsored hate.'”

She then emphasized the need to monitor human rights training provided by the immigration bureau.

“Public opinion is a concern for the immigration bureau. They are advancing the national interest viewpoint over human rights because the general public is so eager to prioritize the Japanese people. They will determine that this is not in the best interests of the country, even if your life is in danger or your family is no longer able to be together. In this regard, we must pay close attention to and observe the type of human rights training that the immigration bureaus are conducting.”

So what is the immigration bureau’s opinion?

The settlement for the state compensation included two promises made by the director of the Osaka Regional Immigration Services Bureau. The first was to apologize to the Turkish man A. The second was to strive to provide more appropriate treatment for the detainees at the Osaka Regional Immigration Services Bureau while respecting their human rights.” During the state compensation lawsuit, video evidence of Turkish man A being pinned to the floor by the Osaka immigration detention center official was shown.

However, Hiroshi Fukuyama, the then director of the Osaka Regional Immigration Services Bureau, was unconcerned. In an interview after his retirement, he said the following (excerpt from the Public Interest Industry Research Institute’s “Ko-ken” May 2025 issue):

“People are shocked when they first watch the video of the restraints, and it makes sense that they would believe that a bunch of immigration control officers are abusing a helpless detainee. Restraints, however, are not a breach of human rights; rather, they are the bare minimum required to preserve the detainee’s interests and human rights as well as those of other detainees. Detainees are detained because they pose a risk to themselves or others; otherwise, there would be no restriction. Thus, there would be no room for human rights violation.”

How can he assert that there is “no room for human rights violation”? Was the apology to the Turkish man A a lie? It would be best for Fukuyama to take human rights training.

(Originally published in Japanese on July 16, 2025. Translation by Mana Shibata.)

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