Silviase/jgov_v1.4_full_ann huggingface dataset:
deportation procedures will be applicable even if they have not committed trafficking in persons in Japan, or even if they have not been sentenced to criminal punishment. This means that the Immigration Bureau may deport foreign nationals who have committed human trafficking in Japan even if they have not been sentenced to criminal punishment. The bureau may also deny them landing in Japan if they have been involved in trafficking in persons in a foreign country. In this sense, the bureau may prevent these criminals from committing human trafficking in Japan.

## 2 Revision of Penalties as a Result of Japan Joining the Protocol on Smuggling

## (1) Revision of Penalties

Recently, many illegal residents obtain the passports of other persons or fraudulent passports from brokers and use these passports in the immigration examination process. In addition, their techniques are becoming more elaborate and sophisticated. In Article 6, 1 (b) (ii), the Protocol on Smuggling requires its state parties to criminalize “procuring, providing or possessing” a fraudulent travel or identity document if it is committed for the purpose of enabling the smuggling of migrants. In line with these provisions, the amended Immigration Control Act imposes a maximum three-year prison sentence or a maximum 3 million yen fine, or both, if a foreign national intends to aid another person’s illegal entry by receiving a refugee travel document or re-entry permit issued by an authorized organization by making a false statement or other dishonest means; or if a foreign national has the same intention above and holds, offers or receives a fraudulent passport (except for passports as defined in the Passport Law, and travel certificate for sending him back to his home country) or fraudulent re-entry permit, or passport that is not valid for the person who commits illegal entry. If they commit these acts for commercial purposes, they will be sentenced to a maximum five-year prison sentence or a maximum fine of 5 million yen, or both.

These efforts will prevent the aforementioned unlawful acts or illegal entry using forged or altered passports.

The Passport Law also criminalizes the receiving of Japanese passports or travel documents to send foreign nationals to their home countries. (At the 162nd session, the Diet partially amended the Passport Law to implement the “Protocol on Smuggling” in Japan. The amended Passport Law will take effect on December 10, 2005.)
(2) Revision of the Grounds for Deportation Relating to the Newly-Created Penalties

As mentioned in (1) above, a larger number of illegal residents are using fraudulent passports in recent years. In addition, Article 11, Paragraph 5 of the Protocol on Smuggling stipulates "Each State Party shall consider taking measures that permit, in accordance with its domestic law, the denial of entry or revocation of visas of persons implicated in the commission of offences established in accordance with this Protocol (i.e., Article 6 of the Protocol)." In this context, the amended Immigration Control Act authorizes the immigration control administration to deport foreign nationals if they are sentenced to a criminal penalty on the grounds of having illegally obtained passports or travel documents as defined in the Passport Law, or a crewman's pocket-ledger or re-entry permit as defined in the Immigration Control Act.

If a foreign national has been deported before, he or she will be denied landing permission for 5 or 10 years in accordance with Article 5, Paragraph 1, Item 9. (If a foreign national is sentenced to a criminal penalty of 1 year or longer, he will not be able to receive landing permission in Japan henceforth in accordance with Article 5, Paragraph 1, Item 4 of the Immigration Control Act.)

Due to this amended law, the immigration control administration will be able to remove the aforementioned criminal offenders from Japan, deny them landing in Japan, and prevent illegal immigrants from entering Japan with forged or altered passports.

## 3 Enhancing Revisions and Anti-Terrorism Measures in Line with the Two Protocols

## (1) Requiring Carriers to Check Passports

According to the Protocol on Human Trafficking and the Protocol on Smuggling, state parties should require their commercial carriers to ascertain that all passengers are in possession of the travel documents required for entry into the receiving state. In addition, state parties of these protocols should take necessary measures, in accordance with their domestic law, to impose sanctions on violators.

The most effective anti-terrorist measure is to prevent terrorists from landing in Japan, but terrorists may attempt to enter Japan using forged or altered passports or genuine passports by pretending to be the passport holder.

In addition, many illegal immigrants obtain forged or altered passports in the transit areas of airports and attempt to board aircraft using these fraudulent passports.
In response to these problems, the Immigration Bureau has been enhancing its border control measures and counter-false document measures in order to prevent terrorists from entering or landing in Japan. Since the most effective anti-terrorist measure is to prevent terrorists from boarding aircraft bound for Japan, the Headquarters to Promote Responses to International Terrorism and International Organized Crime passed a decision that will “require airlines to check passengers’ passports and will impose penalties if the airlines violate this requirement” on December 10, 2004.

In this context, the amended Immigration Control Act requires carriers to check the passports of their passengers and imposes penalties (a fine not exceeding ¥500,000) on airlines if they accept passengers without a valid passport.

This will contribute to preventing terrorists or other illegal immigrants from using forged or altered passports in an attempt to enter Japan.

To enhance the effectiveness of this new rule, the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice has developed guidelines on the matters that the airlines should check. The bureau is also considering holding training sessions for airline employees on how to identify forged or altered passports.

## (2) Enhancing Legislation to Provide Information to Foreign Immigration Control Authorities

According to the Protocol on Human Trafficking and the Protocol on Smuggling, the immigration control administration and relevant agencies should mutually share a wide-range of information in order to prevent human trafficking and the smuggling of immigrants.

As some experts have pointed out that illegal residents provide a breeding ground for crime, the immigration control administration has been enhancing immigration control measures at the border in order to prevent the entry of illegal residents and terrorist attacks, recognizing that counter terrorism is playing an increasingly more important role in recent years. From this viewpoint, it is necessary to establish closer cooperative relations with foreign immigration control authorities by directly sharing information with them.

In this context, the amended Immigration Control Act clearly stipulates the procedures on how the Ministry of Justice, which is in charge of Japan’s immigration control activities, should provide information to foreign immigration control authorities.
# Chapter 3 Immigration Control Administration in General

## Section 1 — Enhancing Countermeasures against Trafficking in Persons

## Action Plan against Trafficking in Persons

Trafficking in persons severely abuses human rights and requires prompt and appropriate responses from a humanitarian perspective, as human trafficking causes serious emotional and physical damage to the victims especially to women and children, and recovery from such damage poses great difficulty. Given such circumstances, in April 2004, the Government of Japan (GOJ) established a Liaison Council of Ministries and Agencies on Human Trafficking, with the Assistant of the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary acting as the chairperson and the director-generals in charge at the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare acting as members, for measures to combat trafficking in persons, as a means of achieving close cooperation among all the government ministries and agencies concerned, and to promote coordination with the international community in order to promote measures specially and effectively toward the prevention and elimination of trafficking in persons and the protection of the victims of trafficking. In December 2004, the government developed an “Action Plan against Human Trafficking”, aiming at taking comprehensive countermeasures on human trafficking.

The Action Plan clearly states that victims of trafficking in persons are eligible for protection and calls for careful responses to be made in consideration of the different conditions of each victim, while giving due thought to the severe mental and physical pain in which many of the victims find themselves. Regarding the penalties for the perpetrators (brokers and employers, etc.), the Action Plan calls for the criminal laws to be amended reflecting the gravity of the crime, and for control measures to be further strengthened. Concretely, the Immigration Control Bureau will cooperate with the relevant agencies and efforts will be made to gain a thorough understanding of the situation of the victims.
(1) Revising the Immigration Control Act to Protect the Victims of Trafficking in Persons

To provide better protective measures for the victims of trafficking in persons, the Immigration Bureau drafted a bill to amend the Immigration Control Act. On February 25, 2005, the bureau submitted the bill to the 162nd Diet session. The Diet then passed the bill, and the amended Act entered into effect.

## (2) Preventing Trafficking in Persons

The Immigration Bureau will identify the nations that send a large number of illegal immigrants to Japan by analyzing data, and then will subsequently strengthen landing examinations, conduct patrol activities in airport transit areas, and monitor and detect suspect individuals. In addition, the Immigration Bureau will actively provide a new type of border control by sending document examiners to foreign airports.

Further, the Immigration Bureau will review the status of residence and visas for “entertainers”.

## (3) Eradicating Trafficking in Persons

When a case of trafficking in persons is detected, the Immigration Bureau, the Police and the Japan Coast Guard will closely coordinate and cooperate with one another, and with other related institutions such as the Labor Standards Inspection Offices, to strengthen measures to crack down on the case of trafficking in persons. This will be conducted with a view to uncovering the criminal employers and brokers, and investigating the transnational crime organizations behind the scenes.

## (4) Protection of Victims of Trafficking in Persons

The Immigration Bureau will make efforts to protect victims by flexibly operating special permission to stay or permission for provisional release, and will carry out measures to help these victims return to their home countries in coordination with the relevant agencies, the IOM and NGOs.

In addition, the bureau will enhance its training activities for its staff so that they will be able to raise their awareness and learn more about trafficking in persons.
## 2 The Immigration Bureau’s Efforts to Protect the Victims of Trafficking in Persons

As described in (1) to (4) below, the Immigration Bureau has been making efforts to protect the victims of trafficking in persons even if they are illegal residents who would otherwise be deported from Japan. In 2004, the Immigration Bureau once again instructed the regional immigration bureaus to provide these protective measures, while taking additional measures as mentioned in (5) and (6). The Immigration Bureau intends to continue these efforts, while endeavoring to take further action in accordance with the Action Plan of Measures to Combat Trafficking in Persons.

## (1) Giving Consideration to the Wishes of the Victims of Trafficking in Persons

When interviewing a female foreign national who may be a victim of trafficking in persons, the Immigration Bureau usually arranges for a female member of staff to do the interviewing, and facilitates smoother communication by using an interpreter who speaks the interviewee's native language. In addition, the bureau endeavors to alleviate the interviewee's sense of insecurity by speaking in a friendly manner, and aims to promptly proceed with the applicable procedures.

## (2) Prompt Return of the Victim Back to the Home Country

If a victim of trafficking in persons appears at the Immigration Bureau voluntarily with the intention of departing from Japan, the Immigration Bureau gives special consideration to them so that they will be able to depart (or be deported) from Japan immediately, without detaining them even if they are illegal residents.

## (3) Flexibly Applying Provisional Release

In the case of a victim of trafficking in persons, the Immigration Bureau flexibly permits “provisional release”, paying due attention to the circumstances and health conditions of the victim.

## (4) Granting Special Permission to Stay on a Case-by-Case Basis

If a victim of human trafficking wishes to remain in Japan, special permission to stay is determined by comprehensively considering their circumstances on a case-by-case basis, including the reasons for such wish, family circumstances, and the reasons why they were involved in trafficking.
## (5) New Leaflet

During the June 2004 campaign against illegal foreign workers, the Immigration Bureau created new leaflets, which explain that trafficking in persons is a grave violation of human rights. The leaflet demonstrates the Immigration Bureau’s commitment to protecting the victims of trafficking in persons, and indicates the Immigration Bureau’s efforts to protect the victims of trafficking in persons, mentioned above in (1)-(3). This leaflet was issued to clarify the policies to help these victims and to provide an environment where victims and their supporters are able to easily seek protection from the Immigration Bureau, so that protective measures will be more effective. The leaflets are written in Japanese and English as well as in Thai, Tagalog and Spanish, which are spoken by many of the victims of trafficking in persons. The leaflets are available at the regional immigration bureaus, foreign embassies and consulates general in Japan, and other related organizations.

The Immigration Bureau provides similar PR information on its own website at http://www.moj.go.jp.

## (6) Efforts by the Regional Immigration Bureaus

The Immigration Bureau has designated the deputy director-general level staff as counter-human trafficking officers responsible for overseeing counter-human trafficking tasks at the regional immigration bureau level. The officer collects information on counter trafficking measures in the district over which he has jurisdiction and also instructs responsible divisions to take necessary measures promptly and appropriately. Under his supervision, the divisions and departments work closely together to address human trafficking. The Immigration Bureau has also established a counter-human trafficking secretariat at the regional immigration bureau level in order to assist the officers and to collect trafficking related information from government agencies, foreign embassies or consulates general in Japan, NGOs and citizens.

## 3 Revising the Criteria for Landing Permission for the Status of Residence of “Entertainer”

In 2004, more than 130,000 foreign nationals entered Japan with the status of residence of “Entertainer”. A considerable number of foreign nationals with the “Entertainer” status have been working illegally as hostesses or the like at entertainment establishments without engaging in the originally planned entertainment activities. Among them, some
have been forced to date customers or engage in prostitution and have been victims of the international problem of human trafficking.

This is mainly attributable to the former Ministerial Ordinance which stipulated the criteria on permission for landing for the status of residence of “Entertainer” (hereinafter, “Ordinance on the Criteria”). According to the former Ordinance on the Criteria, if foreign entertainers wished to engage in theatrical performances or other entertainment activities, they had to be “qualified to do so by a foreign central or local government, or any other similar public/private organization, or have majored in related subjects for two years or longer at a foreign educational institute”, or “have working experience for at least two years in a foreign country”. As a result, a lot of would-be “entertainers” entered Japan with entertainer certificates issued by foreign governments, but some of them did not have actual skills to work as entertainers in Japan, and started working in sex-related businesses.

In response to this problem, the Ministry of Justice revised the Ordinance on the Criteria for the status of residence of “Entertainer” and also deleted the requirement to “be qualified to do so by a foreign central or local government”. The Ordinance on the Criteria for the status of residence of “Entertainer” was amended on February 15, 2005, and entered into force on March 15, 2005.

## Section 2 — Promotion of Counter-Terrorist Measures

## 1 Action Plan for the Prevention of Terrorism

To prevent terrorism under increasingly severe global circumstances and to ensure the safety of the Japanese people, the government agencies concerned should work closely in taking comprehensive, effective and proper measures in order to address the problem of international terrorism, which is heightening anxiety among the general public. To this end, the Headquarters for Promotion of Measures against Transnational Organized Crime of the Cabinet Office was reorganized as the Headquarters to Promote Responses to International Terrorism and International Organized Crime on August 24, 2004. In September 2004, the Chief Cabinet Secretary gave instructions at the headquarters, saying “Preventive measures are the most important approach in addressing terrorism. At the headquarters here, we should first examine the necessary framework or scheme for preventing terrorism in advance, and take proper administrative and legislative actions most suitable to the current situation. To this end, we will examine counter-terrorism measures in foreign countries and
form our consensus, within 2004, on how to improve Japan’s counter-terrorism measures.”

In line with such instructions, the Inter-Ministerial Meeting on Counter-International Terrorism had discussion sessions among the director-general level of staff from the ministries concerned. On December 10, 2004, the Headquarters to Promote Responses to International Terrorism and International Organized Crime adopted the “Action Plan for Prevention of Terrorism”. The Action Plan recommends the Immigration Bureau to take the following actions: 1) Enhance immigration examinations by taking the fingerprints of foreign nationals; 2) impose entry restrictions on terrorists; 3) require the captain of aircraft or vessels to transmit information on crew members and passengers on board; 4) use ICPO’s information on missing and stolen passports to prevent terrorists from entering Japan; 5) require air carriers to check passengers’ passports; and 6) dispatch Japanese experts in verification of forged and altered documents as liaison officers to foreign airports.

## 2 Measures for Prevention of Terrorism

## (1) Implementing Stricter Immigration Control

It is extremely important to deny entry at the border when terrorists pretend to be tourists in an attempt to enter Japan. After the terrorist attacks upon the United States on September 11, 2001, the Immigration Bureau has been enhancing immigration examinations in order to exclude such terrorists at the border.

In concrete terms, to prevent terrorists from illegally entering Japan, the Immigration Bureau has been working closely with other related agencies in collecting information on international terrorist behavior. Based on such information, the Immigration Bureau prepares a list of suspect persons and screens terrorists by checking against this list.

As terrorists are likely to use forged or altered passports, the Immigration Bureau has established document examination offices and installed forged or altered document examination devices and new devices which are able to enlarge the size of letters with a magnification of more than ten times as large as that of previous devices at major airports in order to improve document examination techniques for detecting forged or altered documents.

Recently, a large number of illegal immigrants leave their country of origin with genuine passports, then obtain forged or altered passports from brokers in the transit area of Narita Airport, and attempt to illegally enter the United States or other countries using such forged or altered passports. As preventing such behavior is of utmost importance as a countermeasure to terrorism and international organized crimes, the
Immigration Bureau has been reinforcing patrol in the transit areas of Narita Airport, Kansai Airport and Chubu International Airport.

## (2) Utilizing the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS)

It has become a critical issue in the international community to deter terrorists and international organized groups from moving freely across the world. Accordingly, in order to promote anti-terrorism measures and public security measures, it is vital to implement immigration control more strictly than ever and to stringently prevent suspect persons, such as those involved in cross-border crimes, from entering Japan.

To achieve this objective, the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Finance have been jointly implementing the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) since January 2005. This system receives information on passengers in an electronic form that has been obtained by airline companies before completion of boarding procedures, and then automatically crosschecks the information against the databases of suspect persons, that are owned by the authorities concerned, before the airplanes arrive in Japan, in order to check whether any person on board is on the list. The immigration inspector is able to implement strict examination for landing on the results of the crosscheck and is also able to prevent suspect persons from landing in Japan.

## (3) Introducing New Measures

The Immigration Bureau is making efforts to smoothly accept foreign nationals to Japan, while preventing terrorists from entering Japan by introducing the following new approaches: introduction of a secondary examination system to carefully examine foreign nationals who intend to enter Japan for questionable purposes; implementation of a pre-clearance system for preliminary checks of foreign nationals who have reasons to be rejected by Japan and who may be recommended to cancel their trips to Japan; and collection of terrorist information from the point of departure in order to prevent the entry of terrorists before they arrive in Japan.

## (4) Framework for Close Cooperation with Related Agencies

As various agencies are in charge of preventing illegal immigrants from entering Japan, there is a need for these relevant agencies to form more cooperative relationships at the field level. To this end, the Japanese government established the “Inter-Ministerial Meeting on Border Control” consisting of the director-general level of staff of related administrative agencies on September 17, 2003. Furthermore, to enhance crisis management at international airports and ports through closer cooperation with the