Complementary Protection in Japan: To What Extent Does Japan Offer Effective International Protection for Those Who Fall Outside the 1951 Refugee Convention?

This study focuses on what Japan’s Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (ICRRA) calls ‘Special Permission to Stay’ (zairyū tokubetsu kyoka) on humanitarian grounds (SPS), and evaluates the extent to which SPS provides effective international protection for those who are not recognized as refugees in Japan. The evaluation uses the European Union’s Qualification Directive (QD) as a yardstick. This paper explains the legal framework through which Japan offers complementary protection and explores the application of the law in practice. By investigating cases of SPS granted in Japan over a five-year period, the authors infer the prevailing legal interpretations on critical elements of complementary protection policy not clearly defined in the ICRRA. Case law is not widely available in Japan, but the authors have analysed all of the available case summaries provided by the Ministry of Justice only in Japanese. This work represents the first research conducted in English into these summaries. Further, several elite interviews were conducted with key senior immigration officials to gain insight into the inner workings of the Japanese system of SPS. Based upon the empirical evidence collected, the research demonstrates that the ICRRA often lacks clarity and is too discretionary, but that it also provides flexibility that allows a more inclusive application of the law.