"2月9日、POSSEが支援している外国人労働者パスポート取り上げ裁判の進捗報告", 20 Feb 2021

[Japanese-to-English translation: Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

On 9 February 2021, the Yokohama District Court held the fifth oral arguments in the lawsuit involving a foreign worker whose passport was confiscated.

[…]

The purpose of the fifth oral argument was to organize the main points of the lawsuit. Even though over a year has passed since the case was filed in January 2020, the company [that is alleged to have confiscated the passport] has neither approved nor disapproved our claims. It has also failed to clarify the details of its lawsuit claiming defamation against the Filipino woman [whose passport was confiscated], who held a press conference about her allegations.

[…]

By drawing out the lawsuit, the legal team for the company seems to waiting for her residency permit to expire. Despite this attitude, the lawyer maintained that the company was the victim and confidently repeated discriminatory remarks about the plaintiff.

[…]

The backdrop of this case is racism, which has been made invisible in Japan. Although 3 million non-Japanese people reside in the country, Japan has historically denied their basic human rights, and their right to life (such as the right to access welfare) has not been protected.

[…]