日本去年僅接納28名難民

Japan accepted just 28 refugees in last year, one more than it took in 2015, underscoring its ultra-strict approach to asylum at a time when other nations are increasingly reluctant to take in people fleeing war or persecution.

去年日本僅接受了28名難民，比2015年多了一個。在其他國家越來越不願接受逃離戰爭或迫害的難民的時候，這一數字突顯日本對庇護申請採取超級嚴格態度。

The tiny number of successful claims held steady despite a 44 per cent jump in claims for refugee status to 10,901. That meant a success rate for asylum claims of 0.26 per cent.

雖然難民申請猛增44%，達到10901人，但成功申請的人數仍然很少。上述數字意味着庇護申請的成功率爲0.26%。

As restrictions on asylum seekers spread around the world, including moves by president Donald Trump to ban people from certain countries from entry to the US, the figures highlight how Japan has long operated a system to deter and reject most seeking asylum.

隨着對尋求庇護者的限制在全球蔓延，包括美國總統唐納德?特朗普(Donald Trump)採取行動禁止某些國家的人士入境美國，上述數字突顯日本長期運行的機制遏止和拒絕了絕大多數庇護申請。

“Japan has a very, very strict refugee policy,” said Eri Ishikawa, chair of the Japan Association for Refugees. “They really prioritise immigration control rather than refugee protection.”

日本難民支援協會(Japan Association for Refugees)事務局長石川惠理(Eri Ishikawa)表示：“日本的難民政策非常、非常嚴格。他們真正優先考慮的是移民控制，而不是難民保護。”

There were 1,829 asylum applications from Indonesia, 1,451 from Nepal, 1,412 from the Philippines, 1,143 from Turkey and 1,072 from Vietnam. Among those accepted, seven came from Afghanistan, four from Ethiopia, three from Eritrea and two from Bangladesh.

來自印度尼西亞的庇護申請爲1829個，來自尼泊爾的1451個，來自菲律賓的1412個，來自土耳其的1143個，來自越南的1072個。被接受的難民中7個來自阿富汗，4個來自埃塞俄比亞，3個來自厄立特里亞，2個來自孟加拉國。

Tokyo also granted 97 people humanitarian leave to remain and resettled 18 refugees from Myanmar who were living in Malaysia.

東京方面還基於人道主義理由給予97人居留權，並重新安置了馬來西亞收容的18個緬甸難民。

Japan accepts these tiny numbers of refugees despite nominally complying with the same international conventions as countries such as the UK, which granted asylum to 9,975 people in 2015; the US, which admitted 84,994 last year; and Germany, which has taken in hundreds of thousands of Syrians over the past few years.

日本名義上與英國等國家遵守相同的國際公約，但只接納這麼少難民。2015年英國給予9975人庇護，2016年美國接納了84994人，德國在過去幾年接納了數十萬敘利亞人。

Relatively few potential applicants reach Japan to start with, since they generally need a passport and a visa. They also need to submit extensive documentation in Japanese.

首先，抵達日本的潛在申請者相對較少，因爲他們通常需要護照和簽證，還需要提交大量日文文件。

“Japan has a very unique interpretation of the rules on asylum,” said Ms Ishikawa. “An applicant must be individually targeted by the authorities of their home country. “Even if a Syrian had joined an anti-Assad demonstration and feared to return home, for example, their claim would be rejected.”

石川表示：“日本對庇護規則有着非常獨特的解釋。申請人必須在個人層面受到本國當局的迫害。例如，就算一個敘利亞人蔘加了反阿薩德示威活動，因而害怕回家，他們的申請也會被拒絕。”

Decisions on refugee status can take a number of years, so in practice applicants can receive a tough quasi-asylum in Japan for a period.

難民申請的裁決可能需要幾年時間，因此在實踐中申請人可能在日本度過一段艱難的準庇護時期。

Of those ultimately rejected, some are deported, although Japan does not publish clear figures on deportations.

至於申請最終遭拒的人，有些被遞解出境，不過日本沒有公佈遞解出境的明確數字。