外国人人権法連絡会

５月29日（金）、文部科学省が公表した「『学びの継続』のための学生支援緊急給付金」に対し共同声明^※１を出した移住者と連帯する全国ネットワーク（移住連）、外国人人権法連絡会、人種差別撤廃NGOネットワーク、のりこえねっと、反差別国際運動（IMADR）の５団体と、外国ルーツの学生・留学生・朝鮮大学校の学生と共に要請行動を行ないました。

※１「学生支援給付金」に関しすべての困窮学生への給付を求める声明（５月25日付）

また、文科省との交渉の他、インターネット署名サイトChange.Org^※２のキャンペーンで集められた約５万５千筆の署名提出の立会いと記者会見も開催しました。

※２「外国人学生に日本人学生と同じ基準で現金給付をして下さい！」

要請の内容は、声明で求めた以下の３点です。

1. 支給対象者が43万人と非常に少なく、困窮している全ての学生を対象とすること。
2. 留学生にのみ成績上位の要件が設けられていることは、国籍差別にあたること。
3. 「一条校」（学校教育法第1条）及び日本語教育機関以外の学校が支援から外されており、朝鮮学校などの外国人学校も対象とすること。

記者会見には、当会から田中宏共同代表と師岡康子事務局長が参加し、主に朝鮮大学校が対象外となっている点を指摘しました。師岡事務局長は「国際人権条約違反の差別」と批判。合わせて田中共同代表からは、日本による朝鮮半島への植民地支配の歴史とその責任という視点から問題点を明らかにしました。

「朝鮮人の民族教育の保障は日本の責務だが、それを果たさず外国人の教育を保障する政策がないという問題が背景にある」「貧しきを憂えず、等しからざるを憂う社会であってほしい」

今回の要請行動では、残念ながら文科省から満足のいく回答を得ることは出来ませんでした。状況を改善させられるよう、今後も要請を行なってまいります。

詳細につきましては、各メディアから報道がされていますのでご覧ください。

共同通信「留学生だけ『成績上位』撤回を　5万5千筆の署名提出」
毎日新聞「『留学生のみ成績条件は問題』　困窮学生『給付金』で人権団体が文科省に改善要請」
西日本新聞「『困窮留学生全てに給付金を』　成績要件撤廃求め5団体が署名提出」
神奈川新聞「困窮学生への国支援策　留学生らが成績要件撤回など求める」
朝鮮新報「〈学生支援緊急給付金問題〉“皆が共通して困難な時期になぜ？”／会見で指摘された3つの問題点」
BuzzFeed 「『このままでは勉強が続けられない』3人の学生が語ったこと。困窮学生への緊急給付金のあり方とは」

• Japanese(日本語版) : https://gjhr.net/2020/05/25/59/

May 25, 2020

NGO Joint Statement
Calling for the Provision of the “Cash Handouts to Support Students” to All the Students in Need

On May 19, the Ministry of Education of Japan announced the establishment of the scheme of the Emergency Cash Handouts to Support Students for Their “Continuous Learning”, which aims to grant cash benefits to higher education students who face financial difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic so that they do not need to give up their education. We welcome the launching of the support for the “continuous learning” of students in need.

First of all, however, the number of eligible students under the scheme is some 430,000, which is very small and represents 10% or so of the students in higher education institutions and Japanese language schools. According to the survey on the students’ living conditions in 2016/17, conducted by the Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO), the proportion of the students who have problems or difficulties in pursuing their education only on the basis of the payment by their families and who receive no financial support from their families amounted to 36.0% in universities (full-time), 42.5% in master’s courses and 53.1% in doctor’s courses. Although approximately half of students in higher education take up part-time jobs to continue their education, many reports on the media show that there has been a sharp reduction in opportunities for students to work part-time, including because of official requests to refrain voluntarily from doing businesses in efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Although the eligibility criteria are linked with the reception of scholarships or the use of student loans (the criteria (6)), it is unreasonable to subject the present scheme to such conditions because it is aimed at supporting those who are facing difficulties because of COVID-19. The Ministry of Education should delete the criteria (6) and provide all students in need with the cash handouts.

Secondly, the scheme establishes additional criteria (7) only for students from overseas, requiring them to rank high in terms of academic performance. The purpose of the cash handouts is, however, to help students stay in educational institutions so that they can be involved in “continuous learning” amidst difficult living conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is obvious discrimination on the basis of nationality to establish such different criteria only for students from overseas, in spite of the fact that the difficulties they face have nothing to do with their academic performance.

Since the launch of the “300,000 International Student Plan” in 2008, the Government of Japan has maintained the policy to accept students from overseas in a proactive manner. More than 340,000 persons stay in Japan with the “student” visa (as of the end of the year 2019), many of whom work part-time to keep studying in Japan. According to the survey on the living conditions of privately financed international students in 2017/18, conducted by the JASSO, approximately half of their earnings come from part-time jobs, and 75.8% of privately financed international students work part-time. The discriminatory criteria for the cash handouts, announced in this context, illustrate the opportunistic nature of Japan’s policy on students from overseas, which is far from the philosophy of “international contribution”.

According to the media coverage, the Ministry of Education states that “since the eligibility is to be examined by each university or other higher education institution, those students who do not meet the criteria may be eligible for the cash handouts”. If this is the case, there is no need to establish such criteria. We demand that the criteria 1(7) only for students from overseas be deleted and that the same criteria be applied to them on an equal basis with other students.

Thirdly, students who attend educational institutions other than “Article 1 schools” (schools defined in Article 1 of the School Education Act) or Japanese language schools are excluded from the scheme, even though they may also face risks to “continuous learning” as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan is one of the States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, all of which require the government to ensure the right to learn for all children living in Japan on an equal footing, without discrimination on the basis of nationality, ethnic origin or other status.

In the autumn in 1998, a Graduate School of Kyoto University allowed a graduate from Korea University (Tokyo), a school in the ‘miscellaneous’ category, to take its entrance examination and admitted the student who passed the exam. The Ministry of Education responded in August of the next year (1999) by amending the Ordinance for the Enforcement of the School Education Act to expand the qualifications for entering graduate schools. Consequently, graduates from Korea University, which is not an Article 1 school but a school in the ‘miscellaneous’ category, as well as graduates from departments in Japan of foreign universities – Japan campus of Temple University (USA), Hakodate campus of Far Eastern Federal University (Russia), Japan campus of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tokyo campus of Beijing Language and Culture University and Tokyo campus of Shanghai University, all of which are not Article 1 schools – are now qualified for entering graduate schools of universities in Japan.

In the light of the international human rights standards as well as the above-mentioned history, students of these schools should also be included in the scheme to support “continuous learning” of those in need. Korea University and some of the departments in Japan of foreign universities have postgraduate courses, which should also be included in the scheme.

On the basis of the above, we strongly demand that the Ministry of Education and the Government of Japan withdraw the criteria (6) and (7) for receiving the cash handouts, with a view to including all students in higher education institutions, including Korea University and departments in Japan of foreign universities, in the scheme to support their “continuous learning”.

signatories
Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ)
Japan Network towards Human Rights Legislation for Non-Japanese Nationals & Ethnic Minorities
Japan NGO Network for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ERD Net)
NORIKOE Net
The International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR)

contact: Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ)
Tel: +81-3-3837-2316   smj@migrants.jp