Hatoyama calls for UNHCR to support plan to accept Myanmar refugees+

TOKYO, Nov. 19 Kyodo - Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Thursday called on the U.N. refugee agency to support Japan's plan to accept Myanmar refugees from fiscal 2010, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

During the meeting with U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres,
Hatoyama was quoted as saying that Japan needs the agency's continued
cooperation for it to make a ''success'' of its acceptance of Myanmar refugees
under a third-country resettlement program starting in the next fiscal year
from April 2010.
Japan is set to accept about 30 refugees, who have fled the suppression of
human rights by Myanmar's military government and currently live in border
camps in Thailand, each year for three years from fiscal 2010 under the
resettlement program, according to ministry officials.
If realized, Japan will be the first Asian country to introduce the program,
which is designed to help people who have fled to nearby states because of
conflict in their home countries but find it hard to settle there or return
home.
In the half-hour meeting at the prime minister's office, Guterres responded
that Japan's foreign policy and the UNHCR's support are heading toward the same
goal and that Japan can expect continued support from the agency, according to
the ministry.
The government will examine the outcome of the program after the three years
and decide whether to continue it, the officials said.
The introduction of the program is apparently aimed at fending off criticism in
the international community that Japan is not doing enough in the area of
refugee support.
==Kyodo
2009-11-20 00:30:49