Japan has no immediate plans to accept refugees from Syria, despite earlier pledging financial and political support for the military campaign against Islamic State.



As the EU, with Lebanon, Jordan and other countries, struggled to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people fleeing fighting in Syria and Iraq, governments thousands of kilometres away also pledged to take extra refugees.

On Wednesday Australia said it would accept an extra 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees, on top of its existing humanitarian intake of 13,750.

The Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, said his country would accept 20,000 Syrians who were “welcome to share this land of peace and contribute to our country’s development”.

Japan, however, said that although Tokyo was “cooperating” with its international partners over the crisis, it was not preparing to change its policy to accommodate Syrian refugees.

“We are watching the situation very closely and considering what Japan can do in cooperation with the international community, including the United Nations,” a foreign ministry official said.

“We are aware of the large exodus of refugees from the Middle East and Africa and that many lives have been lost. We’re paying close attention to appeals for assistance.”

Hiroaki Ishii, the executive director of the Japan association for refugees, said the government’s attitude could change.

“There are definitely discussions going on,” he told the Guardian.

Of 60 Syrians already living in Japan who had applied for refugee status, three had been successful and another 30 or so had been given permission to stay long-term for humanitarian reasons.

“Japan should be leading the Asia-Pacific region in addressing the refugee crisis,” he said.

“If Japan is serious about doing something out of humanitarian concern, it should announce a more generous policy towards Syrian refugees and other victims of Isis, including resettlement to Japan and better protection for the 400 Syrian people already living here.”

During a visit to Egypt in January, Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, pledged US$200m in humanitarian aid for Middle East countries engaged in fighting Isis, a move that Isis said prompted its execution of two Japanese citizens after Tokyo refused to pay a ransom.

Japan is the second largest donor to the UN refugee agency after the US, with contributions totalling US$181.6m last year.

But it has not supplemented its huge financial contribution with a more accommodating approach towards asylum seekers. Last year the justice ministry received a record 5000 asylum applications – 1740 more than in the previous year – but accepted just 11.

“The low recognition rate is shameful,” said an immigration lawyer, Shogo Watanabe.

The US, by contrast, granted asylum to 21,171 refugees in 2013; Germany accepted 10,915 and France 9,099. Even South Korea, which has strict asylum laws, approved 57 applications, according to Kazuyoshi Harada, writing for the Nippon.com website. By the end of 2014, he said, Japan had approved a cumulative total of just 633 applications for refugee status.

According to Amnesty International, high-income countries such as Russia, Singapore, Japan and South Korea have so far offered zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees.

Pressure is building for Japan’s government to do more.

This week Peter Sutherland, a special representative of the UN secretary general for migration and development, called on Japan, the US and wealthy Gulf states to “face their responsibilities” towards Syrian refugees as the exodus from the country intensifies.