Foundation for the Welfare and@Education of the Asian People

Resettlement Assistance Programs
‚PDRHQ Support Center

‡@Facilities
The RHQ Support Center is a facility operated by the Refugee Assistance Headquarters to provide resettlement assistance to convention refugees. It was opened in Tokyo in April 2006.

‡AEntry Requirements
People who have been recognized as refugees by the Minister for Justice, and their family* (excludes people who have previously received resettlement assistance from the International Refugee Assistance Headquarters, etc.)
* Family refers to the spouse, parents and unmarried children of recognized refugees and who are foreign nationals that have residence status in Japan.

‡BResettlement Assistance Programs
Basic Japanese language education, guidance regarding Japanese social systems and everyday customs and (if desired) job referrals and workplace adaptation training services are provided.



‡CFree accommodation is available for people for whom commuting from their home to the Center is difficult (only for people enrolled in the half-year courses; stays limited to a maximum of 180 days).

‡DCourse Content
œ572 units (1 unit-45 mins.) of Japanese language education (instruction in basic Japanese required for everyday life in Japan)
œ120 units (1 unit-45 mins.) of guidance for life in Japan (information on systems and customs useful in everyday life)



‡ECounseling
Specialist counselors are available to give advice to Support Center clients on a range of issues encountered when living in Japan.

‡FProvision of Financial Assistance





‚QDAssistance After Resettlement

‡@Refugee Lifestyle Counseling
Most resettled refugees have found employment and are otherwise leading stable lives in Japan. Some refugees, however, find it difficult to become accustomed to the Japanese way of life and are unable to fit into society. Being unable to receive protection from either their homeland or representative offices in Japan, unique issues arise such as being unable to obtain birth certificates and other documentation.

We have refugee counselors to help with procedures relating to visa status, insurance and taxes, etc., as well as issues relating to health care and housing. In regions where there are large numbers of refugees in particular, there are regional refugee counseling services to provide specific assistance.

œEducation and Training Allowances
The following kinds of allowances (one-off payments) are provided when resettled refugees and their family members enroll or progress in a variety of schools.



œCertificates for Indo-Chinese Refugees
Issuance of Certificate of Resettlement Record
Because it is difficult for resettled Indo-Chinese refugees to obtain the necessary proof from their homeland or its representative office in Japan when they wish to marry or become naturalized, RHQ issues a Certificate of Resettlement Record to those who request it.

These certificates include details such as the fact that the person has received permission from the Minister of Justice to resettle as an Indo-Chinese refugee, date of entry into Japan and record of entry into resettlement promotion centers. English translations appear alongside the Japanese so that the certificates may also be used abroad.

Issuance of Indo-Chinese Refugee Identification Cards
Indo-Chinese refugees are sometimes required to provide proof of their Indo-Chinese refugee status when applying for jobs or public housing.

Because Indo-Chinese refugees received resettlement permission from the Minister of Justice based on Cabinet approval rather than receiving individual refugee status, they have not been provided with documents that serve as proof of identity as refugees from public agencies. RHQ issues identification cards and explanatory documents that clarify their status as refugees.



œHandbook for Life and Dictionary of Medical Terms
RHQ also publishes the Handbook for Life in Cambodian, Lao, Vietnamese, English and Myanmarese for resettled refugees to use when they come across difficulties in daily life or something they donft understand. The contents include daily life, education, illness, accidents, disasters, work, taxes and pensions, and legal processes.



A Dictionary of Medical Terms has also been compiled in each of Cambodian, Lao, Vietnamese, English, Myanmarese and Persian (Farsi) for use in various situations when resettled refugees speak with doctors or other medical staff at hospitals or clinics. The Dictionaries are compiled for easy correspondence between the Japanese and foreign language equivalents.

RHQ supplies resettled refugees and other people concerned with the Handbook for Life and Dictionary of Medical Terms free of charge.

œAssistance for Community Activities
Resettled refugees may strike a variety of problems in the process of adapting to Japanese society. These may include difficulty in coming to terms with different daily customs, the struggle to teach their children the language and culture of their homeland and communication breakdown between parents and children caused by language differences. In order to assist in resolving these difficulties, RHQ provides support for activities to help resettled refugees build and develop their own communities.

In specific terms, by providing funds for activities, assisting in securing venues and providing information, RHQ assists the activities that resettled refugee community groups conduct, including information exchange and meetings with local society, practical seminars for lifestyle improvement, activities for the preservation of homeland culture and events, sports tournaments and publication of community newsletters.


£Cultural exchange meeting held by the Cambodian community


£Ceremony to mark the 5th anniversary of the Lao Cultural Center


£A gathering of the Vietnamese community to celebrate the _New Year.


£Dance festival held by visiting Myanmarese artists

‡AVocational Counseling and Employment Promotion
As well as helping with employment opportunities and workplace adaptation training for refugees using the RHQ Support Center who wish to find employment, RHQ coordinates with a job placement center, Hello Work, to follow up on obtaining employment for resettled refugees.

œEmployment Promotion Meetings
In order to create a better employment environment for resettled refugees, employment promotion meetings are held with public employment security offices as well as businesses and relevant authorities.

œEmployment Promotion Activities
Posters and leaflets are made to boost understanding of employment of resettled refugees.

Visits are made to the work places of resettled refugees to give guidance on promoting continuation in the workplace.

Awards are presented to businesses that demonstrate understanding towards refugee employment, and long-serving refugees.


£Panel discussion on employment promotion


‡BJapanese Language Study Counseling and Study Assistance
Counseling is provided to RHQ Support Center clients regarding Japanese language study and progression. RHQ also works with regional Japanese language volunteers and local government to ensure resettled refugees have the opportunity to continue with their Japanese language studies.

œJapanese Language Education Counseling
Japanese language education counselors are available at the RHQ Head Office and the Kansai Branch to take enquiries from resettled refugees and Japanese language volunteers, as well as schools, regional community organizations and businesses, etc. They provide the necessary information and specialist guidance on matters relating to Japanese language study.

œTeaching Material Assistance
Teaching materials developed by RHQ are supplied free of charge to resettled refugees and Japanese language education volunteer groups in order to support Japanese language acquisition by resettled refugees. Details of these materials are in the Japanese Language Teaching Materials Handbook and on the RHQ website.


œAssistance for Volunteer Activities
In order to expand opportunities for Japanese language learning by resettled refugees, RHQ supports the activities of Japanese language education volunteer groups that provide instruction in Japanese language study for resettled refugees in various regions.

Recipients:
Organizations that provide Japanese language instruction for resettled refugees and that meet standards set by RHQ. Activities must be non-profit.

Content:
1. Partial subsidy for expenses (including volunteer trans-portation costs, consumables, etc., excluding teaching materials etc.) incurred for Japanese language instruction conducted by the volunteer group free of charge.

2. Partial subsidy for when a volunteer group increases instructor numbers or conducts training sessions to improve teaching methods.


£Support for regional Japanese language volunteer groups (Kobe Foreingners Freiendship Center, Hyogo prefecture)

‚RDOther Activities
‡@Assistance for Applicants for Refugee Status
Since fiscal 1995, of the people applying in Japan for recognition under the Immigration Management and Refugee Recognition Act based on the Refugee Convention, those who have been recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as destitute based on surveys conducted by RHQ have received a protection allowance (daily allowance, accommodation allowance, medical expenses). People without accommodation have been accepted into Emergency Shelter for Refugee Applicants (ESFRA) since December 2003.

These protection measures terminate when a decision is made to grant or refuse refugee status, when the person in question has found stable employment, or when it otherwise becomes unnecessary.

From July 2004, a liaison office was set up at Head Office to respond to queries from convention refugees and refugee recognition applicants and assist them with the various issues they encounter in life in Japan (health care, jobs, daily life, education, housing, accidents, alien registration procedures, etc.).


‡AOverseas Refugee Assistance Projects Since 1995, fact-finding surveys have been conducted with the assistance of Japanese NGOs into the circumstances of people in overseas refugee camps and refugees returning to their homeland, as well as into the situation regarding intake of refugees in other nations. This has resulted in the commencement of local projects by Japanese NGOs in countries in Asia and Africa.


‡BVolunteer Development Support Projects
Efforts have been put into the development of Japanese specialists in refugee issues and volunteers since 1995 and into cooperating with Japanese NGOs in the field of refugee assistance.

Included among these projects are seminars and presentations regarding refugees around the world, as well as panel discussions on refugee assistance and seminars for refugee supporters aimed at NGO staff involved in refugee assistance activities inside and outside Japan. Lectures on refugee conditions to impart information about circumstances in regions producing refugees have been held, as have workshops and seminars for understanding refugees in order to broaden understanding about the refugee issue. A symposium was also held on March 2008 at the Elizabeth Rose Conference Hall of the United Nations University to mark the 25th anniversary of the Refugee Convention coming into effect in Japan.


£A symposium at the United Nations University upon the 25th anniversary of the Refugee Convention coming into effect in Japan.


£5th Seminar for Multicultural Co-Existence through Education for International Understanding and Development Education at JICA offices, Hyogo prefecture

Being Involved in Refugee Programs


Former (4th) Director-General of the Refugee Assistance Headquarters
Hiromi Sato

As a Councilor of the Foundation for the Welfare and Education of the Asian People (FWEAP), I attended the ceremonies and performances at the 29th Festival for Resettled Refugees in Japan held in the Shinjuku Cultural Center last October 26. According to custom, Foundation President Tamisuke Watanuki presented certificates of gratitude to NGOs and centers providing cooperation to assistance projects for refugees, and commendations to exemplary refugees who have resettled in Japan. We were then treated to a wonderful display of traditional Myanmarese, Cambodian and Lao ethnic dancing and a fashion show featuring the traditional ao dai worn by Vietnamese women. I was deeply impressed with the speeches skillfully given in Japanese by the resettled refugees who received commendations, as well as by the fruits borne of the efforts to preserve their traditions and culture as demonstrated by the performances. As someone involved in refugee projects, it gives me the utmost joy to see that, though by a somewhat circuitous route, JapanÕs refugee resettlement projects have steadily progressed to encompass asylum seekers. It is indeed a source of great pride to be celebrating the passage of 40 years since the start of the FWEAP and the 30th anniversary of the Refugee Assistance Headquarters (RHQ), and I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to all those involved.

The RHQ was established in 1979 when the FWEAP was commissioned by the Japanese government to assist with the intake of refugees from three Indo-Chinese nations from which there was an outpouring of refugees following the conclusion of the Vietnam War. I was installed as the 4th Director-General of the RHQ in March 1992, and during my three-year term in this role also implemented third-country resettlement intake of refugees who came to Japan from refugee camps in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Hong Kong after undergoing interviews. Several incidents requiring emergency responses arose while boat people held in the Omura Refugee Reception Center awaited screening, including disputes between internees and attempts to escape the facility by climbing over Center fences. Each of the staff responsible for Japanese language education, social adaptation training and job referral service at the Himeji and Yamato Resettlement Promotion Centers and the International Refugee Assistance Headquarters in Shinagawa approached their tasks wholeheartedly, and in the process of assisting resettled refugees to become a part of Japanese society I too was able to gain a full appreciation of the circumstances surrounding refugee acceptance by actually visiting such locations myself.

Taking advantage of opportunities presented at regular consultative meetings with staff at resettled refugee intake centers and visits to workplaces accepting refugee workers, I was able to confirm that the Indo-Chinese refugees were highly regarded in the workplace as steady workers, even as they strove to overcome the language barrier. I was both surprised and delighted when one factory owner said to me that because he did not have any sons to pass the business on to, he would be happy to leave it to the Vietnamese refugees.

So it has come to be that there are now more than 11,300 Indo-Chinese refugees that have resettled in Japan and are actively participating as members of Japanese society in a variety of fields all over Japan. Without doubt, their contributions have provided the impetus for Japan to move toward a more multi-cultural society. It is also wonderful to see that those born in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have formed their own communities to ensure the continuance of their own unique traditions and culture. The many restaurants where their cuisine can be enjoyed are also contributing to the diversification of Japanese food culture. Casting my mind back more than a decade, I remember learning on a trip to observe the situation of refugees in Australia that a former Vietnamese refugee had become the mayor of a city there. Given that quite a number of resettled refugees have become naturalized Japanese, I thought that if the same thing happened in Japan in the future it would be seen as a landmark result for the refugee acceptance projects.

The intake of Indo-Chinese refugees ceased at the end of March 2006, with the International Refugee Assistance Headquarters that continued projects to the end being closed at the end of March 2006. From the perspective of the rationalization of JapanÕs refugee acceptance projects, it is extremely pleasing that on April of the same year, the Refugee Assistance HeadquartersÕ RHQ Support Center opened its doors in Tokyo to implement resettlement assistance projects including Japanese language education, guidance for daily life and job referrals for convention refugees.

The refugee recognition system was vastly improved with the enactment in May 2005 of the new Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act. Having received an official commission from the Minister of Justice, as a refugee screening consultant I am currently involved in work to examine whether applicants for refugee recognition qualify as refugees in light of the 1951 Refugee Convention, etc. The majority of people who seek asylum by applying for refugee recognition only begin the application process once they have been exposed for residing or working illegally. This situation clearly stems from there being no change in the established basic policy whereby Japanese society in principle prohibits the acceptance of foreigners purely for work purposes. From a business perspective, there is certainly a need for some owners to rely on foreign workers, and in light of the increasing gravity of Japanese societyÕs rapid progression towards fewer children and more elderly, as well as globalization, this is an issue that needs to be tackled head-on.

It is unfortunate that refugees continue to emerge as a result of continuing conflict around the world. UNHCR puts the total number of refugees as of the end of 2007 at 11.4 million, with more than 640,000 people seeking asylum. There are also more than 13.74 million internally displaced people in need of aid. Given this situation, it is necessary as a member of international society for each and every Japanese person to gain a full understanding of the refugee issue from their own perspective and for the system for aid cooperation be further enhanced.

Copyright (C) 2009 Foundation for the Welfare and Education of the Asian People. All Rights Reserved.