## Section 2 ☐ Acceptance of Refugees Through Resettlement

Resettlement is intended to transfer and resettle refugees, who have been evacuated from their countries of origins and who are temporarily taking shelter in a refugee camp in a neighboring country or some other place, to another country which agrees to accept such refugees from the countries where they were originally offered protection. Resettlement is deemed to be one of the permanent solutions for refugee problems, as well as “voluntary repatriation” and “resettlement in the first countries of asylum”.

The UNHCR encourages each country to accept refugees based on resettlement from the standpoint of having the international community properly share its duties in relation to refugee problems.

In the past, Japan took measures to support the resettlement of Indochinese refugees and those recognized as refugees, but in order to deal with the various problems relating to refugees in the Asian region, Cabinet approval was given to the introduction of a system of resettlement (“Implementation of a Pilot Project for the Admission of Refugees through Resettlement”) on December 16, 2008.

The Cabinet approval and the “Specific Measures for Implementation of a Pilot Project for the Admission of Refugees through Resettlement” (decision of the Liaison and Coordination Council for Refugee Issues on December 19, 2008) prescribed that the relevant ministries and agencies would accept approximately 30 Myanmarese refugees every year from refugee camps in Thailand, as a pilot project starting from FY 2010 and would support their resettlement through inter-ministry and agency cooperation. It was also stated that the pilot project would, in the future, be reviewed from various angles, and that based on the review, further consideration would be given to a future system of acceptance (After that, targeted camps were expanded.). The first group of five families comprising 27 family members came to Japan in FY 2010, four families comprising 18 family members came in FY 2011, four families comprising 18 family members came in FY 2013, and five families comprising 23 family members came in FY 2014 (three families comprising 16 family members were scheduled to come to Japan in FY 2012, but all of the families withdrew their request before coming to Japan.).

Based on the results of the Advisory Council on Resettlement held under the auspices of the Liaison and Coordination Council for Refugee Issues from March 2012 to December 2013, Japan's future policy on resettlement was approved by the Cabinet on January 24, 2014, and in accordance with the contents of this Cabinet Agreement and the "Specific Measures for the Acceptance of Refugees through Resettlement" (decision of the Liaison and Coordination Council for Refugee Issues of January 24, 2014), Myanmarese refugees staying temporarily in Malaysia became eligible for acceptance from FY 2015 onwards, and six families comprising 19 family members came to Japan in FY 2015.

The Immigration Bureau, which is mainly in charge of the selection process for the acceptance of refugees and conducts interviews by sending officers out to the field, with the cooperation of the related organizations, intends to continue in the future with efforts for the acceptance of refugees through resettlement.

## Section 3 ☐ Promotion of Collaboration with NGOs

With regard to refugee-related administration, it is necessary to identify specific points which need to be improved through discussions with individuals involved in the promotion of refugee protection incorporating the standpoint of the private sector and legal experts, and to work to achieve better measures in collaboration with and cooperation from citizens' groups.

Therefore on February 10, 2012, the Immigration Bureau concluded a three-party agreement and exchanged a memorandum on cooperation with the Forum for Refugees Japan, which is a network of NGOs and groups supporting refugees, and the JFBA, agreeing to hold discussions to identify the refugee-