## Section 2 Filing of an Objection

## Filing of an Objection

The total number of objections filed by applicants who were denied refugee status (hereinafter referred to as “Denial of Recognition of Refugee Status”) in 2013 was 2,408, an increase of 670 (38.6%) from 2012 (Table 47).

Table 47 Changes in the number of objections filed, and decisions of the Minister of Justice

Year Division	1982~2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	Total
Not recognized as a refugee	2,773	389	446	791	1,703	1,336	2,002	2,083	2,499	14,022
Filing of objection	1,862	340	362	429	1,156	859	1,719	1,738	2,408	10,873
Decisions	With reason	32	12	4	17	8	13	14	13	3	116
Without reason	1,425	127	183	300	230	325	635	790	921	4,936
Withdrawn	295	33	34	34	70	113	231	193	211	1,214

$ ^{*} $ Since the procedure for the “filing of an objection” was newly established through the amendment of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, which entered into force on May 16, 2005, the “application for objection” made prior to the implementation of the amended Act was deemed to be replaced by “filing of an objection” after the implementation.

## ② Processing of the Objection

Of the objections filed by applicants who failed to obtain refugee status, 1,135 of them were handled in 2013, an increase of 139 (14.0%) from 2012. According to statistics, 3 objections were found to be with reasonable grounds (13 in the previous year), 921 objections were found to be without any reasonable grounds (790 in the previous year), and 211 objections were withdrawn by the foreign nationals who had filed the objections (193 in the previous year) (Table 47).

## Section 3 ♦ Purpose of the Refugee Examination Counselors System and its Implementation

The Refugee Examination Counselors System was started in May 2005 in order to ensure the equity and neutrality of the objection filing procedures. This procedure made it mandatory for the Minister of Justice to hear the opinions of refugee examination counselors when making a decision on objections filed against the disposition, such as denial of recognition of refugee status or revocation of recognition of refugee status.

The refugee examination counselors are persons of good character, are persons who are able to make a fair judgment regarding objections to the disposition, such as denial of recognition of refugee status, and moreover are persons with an academic background in law or international current affairs, and they are appointed by the Minister of Justice, in some cases after having been recommended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, an NGO or some other organization.

The Act provides that the Minister of Justice must hear the opinions of refugee examination counselors on all the cases in which an objection has been filed. Prior to this process, an oral statement of opinions by the petitioner, etc. is given in which the petitioner or other person states his or her opinion and a hearing is held where the refugee inquirer or refugee examination counselors may ask questions to the petitioner.

The number of times refugee examination counselors were present at an oral statement of opinions by