The Laureate of the 8th Okinawa Peace Prize

Japan Association for Refugees (JAR)

The nonprofit Japan Association for Refugees (henceforth, JAR) was born in response to the relatively low number of government recognized refugees despite the increasing number of refugees and asylum-seekers actually in Japan. It was established in 1999 primarily by members of the international human rights NGO Amnesty Japan who saw the need to provide holistic support for these refugees.

As a contract partner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), JAR strives for “the realization of improved support for refugees” and “working with refugees to create a better society” and is engaged in various activities to achieve these goals.

Their work in Japan involves legal aid such as helping refugees with application procedures for official recognition and daily life support by providing personal consultations and medical aid to individual refugees. They also provide practical support for living in Japan such as Japanese language study assistance for refugee children and Japanese language study follow-ups for refugees who have found employment. In addition to providing direct support for immigrants, they also carry out PR outreach efforts. One of these is a periodic “Refugee assistant training course” for the general public including students, company employees, housewives, and more to deepen understanding of and interest in refugees.

As one of the founding members of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network, JAR actively works overseas in the Asia Pacific Region in conjunction with local governments and refugee rights NGOs in an effort to increase international communication and cooperation. Additionally, they push for improvement in refugee rights and acceptance via policy proposals to both the Japanese government and UN agencies.

Due to JAR’s steady and comprehensive projects over the past fifteen plus years and their PR and outreach efforts to ensure the continuation of their projects, they have greatly contributed to the absorption of a peaceful mentality in the people of Japan and we hope their efforts will help form the bedrock for the establishment of peace across the Asia Pacific region.