Japan Grants Refugee Status over Homosexuality for 1st Time

Tokyo, July 2 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government granted refugee status to a foreigner in 2018 over fears of persecution owing to the person's homosexuality, informed sources said Tuesday. This is the first time for Japan to have recognized a foreigner as a refugee for such a reason, according to the Immigration Services Agency. The agency did not disclose the nationality, gender or other personal details of the foreigner in question. Same-sex sexual behaviors are subject to imprisonment in the home country of the foreigner. The person was arrested and held in prison for two years in the country. The person applied for refugee status after being freed on bail and arriving in Japan. According to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, or ILGA, some 70 countries, mainly Middle East and African nations, ban same-sax relationships. Japan is seeing an increase in moves to support the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, couples. On Monday, Ibaraki Prefecture became the first among the country's 47 prefectures to officially recognize same-sex couples. The Immigration Services Agency said 10,493 people applied for refugee status in Japan in 2018. Of them, 42 were given refugee status for fears of persecution because of homosexuality, religion, political thought or other reasons. END