conservative LDP lawmakers about the JAPAN proposed addition. Following a public outcry at the remarks, an executive member of the Japan LDP announced that they would not submit Head of government: Fumio Kishida (replaced the bill to Japan’s National Diet. It was still Yoshihide Suga in October) 1 pending at the end of the year. The government took no steps towards the Ethnic minorities and LGBTI people legal recognition of same-sex marriage. continued to experience stigma and However, in March, the Sapporo District discrimination. Legislation allowing for the Court ruled in a lawsuit brought by three indefinite detention of undocumented same-sex couples that the government’s foreign nationals remained in place. failure to recognize same-sex marriage was Detainees were denied the right to adequate unconstitutional. The plaintiffs were among medical care. 13 couples who had filed similar lawsuits on 2 BACKGROUND Valentine’s Day in 2019. A total of 141 local municipalities had introduced ordinances or Japan hosted the delayed Olympic Summer guidelines that acknowledged same-sex Games 2020 against a background of rising unions by the end of the year. numbers of Covid-19 cases and hostile Pressure increased from civil society to public opinion. On 3 September Yoshihide reform the Act on Gender Identity Disorder by Suga announced his resignation as prime removing requirements that contravene rights minister amid public anger at the under international law for individuals government’s handling of the pandemic. seeking to change their legal gender. Under DISCRIMINATION the Act, anyone wishing to change their legal gender was required to be unmarried, aged Long-standing discrimination continued over 20, without minor children, and towards Japan’s ethnic Korean minority, sterilized or otherwise unable to reproduce. especially those deemed to be aligned with They were also obliged to undergo surgery so North Korea. In July, the Supreme Court that their genitalia more closely resembled dismissed a claim for damages filed by a that of their new legal gender and were Pyongyang-related school and some of its required to undergo psychiatric assessment graduates over the government’s decision to and receive a diagnosis. exclude such Pyongyang-related Korean schools from a programme to provide tuition REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS subsidies for high schools. Four cases on the Authorities continued to subject asylum same issue had previously been rejected by seekers and irregular migrants to indefinite other courts. detention and ill-treatment including inadequate medical care in immigration LGBTI PEOPLE’S RIGHTS detention facilities. In March, a 33-year-old In May, after intense negotiation between the Sri Lankan woman, Ratnayake Liyanage ruling and opposition parties, a statement Wishma Sandamali, died while in immigration that “discrimination on the basis of sexual detention. An investigative report released by orientation and gender identity is the government’s Immigration Services unacceptable” was added to the ruling Agency in August admitted flaws in the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) proposed medical care system. bill to promote public awareness of sexual Authorities continued to use the orientation and gender identity. However, Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition during the LDP’s internal process of Act to indefinitely detain undocumented approving the cross-party bill, many foreign nationals, including irregular migrants discriminatory remarks were made by and asylum seekers, until their deportation. Amnesty International Report 2021/22 214