Her case is one of the examples of an ongoing crackdown on foreigners living in Japan without visas
Calls for her release are on the rise A prominent Nigerian activist based in Japan, Elizabeth Aruoriwo Obueza has been detained for two weeks by authorities in Japan, prompting calls for her release, Reuters reports.
A prominent Nigerian activist based in Japan, Elizabeth Aruoriwo Obueza has been detained for two weeks by authorities in Japan, prompting calls for her release, Reuters reports.
According to Obueza and her lawyer, she was detained after Japanese authorities turned down an appeal against her asylum rejection. Obueza, 48, is known for campaigning for asylum seekers and the 4,700 people on “provisional release” from immigration detention – a status that lets foreigners out from detention but bars them from working and travelling freely.
In September 2015, Japanese justice ministry vowed to take steps to reduce the 60,000 foreigners living in Japan without visas. Activists and lawyers say people on provisional release, many of whom have lived in Japan for decades, have been among those targeted by the authorities. “Elizabeth was targeted and detained for being an activist, I want her released immediately,” said immigration lawyer Shoichi Ibusuki.
Mitsuru Miyasako, head of the Provisional Release Association in Japan, a group representing refugees and immigrants also weighed in on the issue. “Elizabeth is held in solitary because she’s an activist and immigration officials don’t want her causing trouble. Locking someone up alone in a tiny room is to ruin them psychologically.”
Obueza told Reuters she fled Nigeria for Japan in 1991 to escape female genital mutilation and applied for asylum in 2011. According to her, she was locked up for more than 22 hours a day by the Japanese authorities. Speaking from her detention centre, Obueza said:
“I want to help people. Give me the right to help people, don’t put me in here.” Obueza has a turbulent history with the authorities in Japan. During her previous 10-months arrest in 2011 at a different centre, Obueza organised detainees to write a joint petition to immigration authorities calling for better medical care.
For more than a decade, She has visited immigration detention centres across Japan, helping detainees navigate the asylum system and find lawyers. “When I go outside my room, I go around the windows and talk to the others. I advise them what to do,” Obezua concluded.
Meanwhile, a delegation of 15 European Union officials arrived Nigeria this week to discuss plans to send back some Nigerian migrants in EU countries back to Nigeria. The “return and readmission” deal the EU is seeking first with Nigeria and then with four other countries, is seen as technical and sensitive.
No comments:
Post a Comment