TOKYO: A record 7,586 people sought asylum in Japan in 2015, a 52 percent increase, while just 27 people applying for asylum were approved, government data showed on Saturday.
Those accepted did not necessarily come from those who arrived last year. Some of them may have been waiting for years.
Japan prides itself on its homogeneity and runs the tightest refugee recognition system among industrialized economies. It accepted just 11 refugees in 2014, when 5,000 applied.
In the same year, EU member countries gave protection status, which includes refugee status and authorization to stay for humanitarian reasons, to about 185,000 asylum seekers.
Asylum seekers from Nepal topped the list of those arriving in 2015, with 1,768 people, or 23 percent of the total. Another 969 people came from Indonesia and 926 from Turkey, according to the preliminary data from the Justice Ministry.
Of the 27 people approved in 2015, six are from Afghanistan and three from Syria.
Asylum applications have risen more than six-fold since 2010, when legal changes gave re-applicants the right to work as their claims were judged.
The data were reported as Japan tiptoes into a debate over whether to open its doors wider to immigration, to cope with its shrinking, ageing population.
Migrants in Japan reach record 7,586 in 2015; 27 accepted
Migrants in Japan reach record 7,586 in 2015; 27 accepted
Bangladesh’s Yunus announces resignation, end of interim govt
- Yunus handed over power after congratulating the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its leader Tarique Rahman
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus stepped down on Monday in a farewell broadcast to the nation before handing over to an elected government.
“Today, the interim government is stepping down,” the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner said.
“But let the practice of democracy, freedom of speech, and fundamental rights that has begun not be halted.”
Yunus returned from self-imposed exile in August 2024, days after the iron-fisted government of Sheikh Hasina was overthrown by a student-led uprising and she fled by helicopter to India.
“That was the day of great liberation,” he said. “What a day of joy it was! Bangladeshis across the world shed tears of happiness. The youth of our country freed it from the grip of a demon.”
He has led Bangladesh as its “chief adviser” since, and now hands over power after congratulating the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its leader Tarique Rahman on a “landslide victory” in elections last week.
“The people, voters, political parties, and stakeholder institutions linked to the election have set a commendable example,” Yunus said.
“This election has set a benchmark for future elections.”
Rahman, 60, chief of the BNP and scion of one of the country’s most powerful political dynasties, will lead the South Asian nation of 170 million.
‘Rebuilt institutions’
Bangladeshi voters endorsed sweeping democratic reforms in a national referendum, a key pillar of Yunus’s post-uprising transition agenda, on the same day as the elections.
The lengthy document, known as the “July Charter” after the month when the uprising that toppled Hasina began, proposes term limits for prime ministers, the creation of an upper house of parliament, stronger presidential powers and greater judicial independence.
“We did not start from zero — we started from a deficit,” he said.
“Sweeping away the ruins, we rebuilt institutions and set the course for reforms.”
The referendum noted that approval would make the charter “binding on the parties that win” the election, obliging them to endorse it.
However, several parties raised questions before the vote, and the reforms will still require ratification by the new parliament.
The BNP alliance won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance, according to the Election Commission.
Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman conceded on Saturday, saying his party would “serve as a vigilant, principled, and peaceful opposition.”
Newly elected lawmakers are expected to be sworn in on Tuesday, after which Tarique Rahman is set to become Bangladesh’s next prime minister.
Police records show that political clashes during the campaign period killed five people and injured more than 600.
However, despite weeks of turbulence ahead of the polls, voting day passed without major unrest and the country has responded to the results with relative calm.
