DESK REVIEW ON POPULATIONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS
The PNLSC reports on the history of the Survey as follows:
•
1995: Survey 1 - 444 descendants were found.
•
1997: Survey 2 - 1,024 descendants were found.
•
2004: Survey 3 - 1,099 descendants were found (Survey 3 stayed open through to
Survey 4).
•
2005: Survey 5 - PNLSC was commissioned to conduct the survey and discovered
that there was an official list of Japanese prisoners of war in the Philippines with
18,248 names on it. The Korosho (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) had a copy
of this list but said that due to government regulations on personal information
(kojinjouhou) they could not provide it to the PNLSC. However, the original list was
held in the United States in the Smithsonian, and through a volunteer in the U.S., the
PNLSC was able to get a copy from there. This list has proven to be an important
piece of evidence as it has pictures, fingerprints, and the father’s address.
•
2010: Survey 6 - PNLSC made a list of 300 descendants and called it the list of war
orphans in the Philippines.
•
2012: Survey 7 - PNLSC conducted a survey of Japanese Diaspora organizations
(Nikkeijin-kai) all over the Philippines, and the same year conducted a follow up survey
#8 and found an additional 511 persons.
•
2013: Survey 9 - the number of persons identified was 1,001.
•
2014: Survey 10 - data from all previous surveys was consolidated into a total list of
3,545.
•
2017: Survey 11 - the consolidated list expanded to 3,806.
•
2019: Survey 12 - the consolidated list expanded to 3,810.
•
2020: Survey 13 - this is the most recent survey. The total number is now 3,836.
To conduct the latest survey, PNLSC had only two months and a total budget of ¥2,000,000
(a bit less than US$ 20,000). The project was implemented all over the Philippines through
the Nikkeijin-kai under the federation. The list is distributed with the survey, and staff of the
Nikkeijin-kai visit their homes or try to contact them. Those who are marked as unknown,
are persons who are registered from past surveys, but could no longer be reached. PNLSC
reported that many live below the poverty line, and move a lot, and are hard to find. It was
noted that there were many reasons for this:
•
Much time has gone by since the first survey in 1995, when there were no cell phones,
and landlines were expensive, so after 25 years it is easy to lose contact.
•
UNHCR / April 2021
Perhaps they used to belong to Nikkeijin-kai, but then they moved.
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