AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

in a context of pervasive discrimination
against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
and intersex (LGBTI) people. Executions of
prisoners on death row continued.
RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,
TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE
More municipalities adopted written
instruments to recognize same-sex unions. A
growing number of mostly multinational
corporations amended their internal rules to
extend benefits to employees in same-sex
unions. The major political parties pledged to
campaign for LGBTI rights ahead of upper
house elections in July.
Discrimination against LGBTI people
continued, particularly in rural areas. A
transgender woman filed a lawsuit against the
state after she was refused hormone
injections while imprisoned. Parents of a gay
student at Hitotsubashi University in the
capital, Tokyo, filed a lawsuit against the
university and another student for
accountability and compensation; their son
had committed suicide after being “outed”
and bullied.
DISCRIMINATION – ETHNIC MINORITIES
In May the parliament passed the first
national law to condemn the advocacy of
hatred (“hate speech”) towards residents of
overseas origin and their descendants. The
legislation followed an increase in
demonstrations promoting discrimination. Its
effectiveness was questioned by civil society
organizations and lawyers due to its narrow
focus and the fact that it failed to legally ban
“hate speech” or to set penalties. Later that
month in Kanagawa prefecture, a court
issued the first-ever provisional injunction
preventing an anti-Korean activist from
organizing a rally within a radius of 500m of
the premises of an organization supporting
ethnic Koreans.
Also in May, the Supreme Court dismissed
a case brought against the police practice of
blanket surveillance of Japan’s Muslim
community, including people perceived as
Muslim. In 2010, 114 internal Tokyo
Metropolitan Police Department documents
had been leaked online which included
personal and financial information about
Muslims labelled as suspected “terrorists” in
Japan. The Court confirmed that there was a
breach of the right to privacy, but left this
type of intelligence gathering unchallenged.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS
Following the bilateral agreement with the
Republic of Korea (South Korea) in late 2015
on the military sexual slavery system before
and during World War II, in July the South
Korean government launched the Japanesegovernment-funded
“Reconciliation and
Healing Foundation”. The Japanese
government emphasized that the funds were
not for reparations, in line with its stance that
all such claims were settled during post-war
negotiations. Civil society in South Korea
continued to call for the 2015 agreement to
be revoked, deeming it unconstitutional and
invalid because survivors were not
represented during the negotiations. While
the Imperial Army had forced women from
throughout the Asia-Pacific region into sexual
slavery, by the end of the year Japan had not
started negotiations with any other countries.
REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS
Authorities continued to reject a majority of
asylum applications. The government
reported that in 2015, of the 7,586 asylum
applications filed (a 52% increase over the
previous year), only 27 were granted. An
asylum-seeker from Sri Lanka prepared to
sue the state claiming deprivation of his right
to seek asylum because he was deported the
day after his claim was denied by the Ministry
of Justice.
JUSTICE SYSTEM
The parliament amended a series of laws
relating to criminal justice. For the first time
the electronic recording of both police and
prosecutor interrogations was required,
although in a limited number of cases. The
existing wiretap law was expanded and a plea
bargaining system was introduced. The
expansion of the use of wiretapping risked
violating the right to freedom of expression.
210 Amnesty International Report 2016/17