detained for a prolonged period of time in immigration detention centers with no prospect
of deportation. Even if they were to obtain provisional release, they would be prohibited
from working, ineligible for welfare, and would be forced to live under unstable
circumstances. Depending on the local authorities, children without a status of residence
may be denied school enrolment.
In cases where stateless persons are considered by Japanese administrative authorities
to have the nationality of another State, they face a different set of problems. Children
born from such parents would be treated as being outside the scope of the Nationality
Act Article 2(iii), which provides for the acquisition of Japanese nationality at birth. They
would also be considered to fall outside of the scope of facilitated naturalization under
Article 8(iv). In conducting legal acts concerning personal status, the law of the concerned
country becomes the governing law, leading to Japanese administrative authorities
demanding documents, etc., from the concerned “country of nationality”, thereby slowing
down the process. Many stateless persons do not realize that they are in fact stateless
because they believe that they possess the “nationality” noted on their official
identification documents issued by Japan (e.g., Foreigner Residence Card). This results in
further delay in the resolution of nationality issues.
Chapter 3, Section 2, provides proposals to address these problems.
The table below summarizes the proposals for solutions for each category of persons
who are stateless or at risk of being stateless. (A indicates applicability.)
Category
A
B
C
D
Creation of a legal provision providing a
definition
of
statelessness
establishment
of
a
and
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
the
statelessness
determination procedure
Streamlining of the statistics relating to
stateless persons
Establishment of a system to protect
stateless persons, such as by the grant of
“long-term resident” status.
Utilization
of
a
refugee
status
determination procedure
19