A/HRC/17/33/Add.3 principle, no foreigner is permitted to enter the country to engage in unskilled labour”. However, there has been a need for unskilled labour in recent years, which has not been sufficiently met by the immigration of persons of Japanese descent and the employment of foreign trainees and technical interns. Therefore, a considerable number of migrants have entered Japan with a short-term visa and have overstayed it, working in Japan as irregular migrants. 11. The Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (1951) (hereinafter the “Immigration Control Act”) is the main legislation regulating migration in Japan. It regulates the entry, stay and deportation of migrants in accordance with the policy outlined above. In 1989, under an increasing pressure to fill in labour shortages, the Government revised the Immigration Control Act to allow descendants (up to the third generation) of Japanese emigrants to apply for a long-residence permit in Japan. These non-nationals of Japanese descent are commonly called “Nikkeijin”. The vast majority of “Nikkeijin” are from Brazil and Peru, where their ancestors had emigrated at the beginning of the twentieth century. This slight opening up of the migration policy has been criticized as being racially discriminatory, since it substantially limited the acceptance of foreigners to those of Japanese descent. 12. In 1990, the Government established another mechanism, the Industrial Training and Technical Internship Programme, under which trainees and interns from developing countries come to Japan with a view to learning skills and working under a training framework. As discussed later, there are many reports of serious abuses linked to this programme. 13. As a result of these policies, from 1990 to 2008, the number of migrants from Brazil and Peru, including “Nikkeijin”, increased from 71,000 to 370,000. Based on statistics provided by the Ministry of Labour, the number of foreign workers totaled 562,818 in October 2009. The number of trainees and technical interns working in Japan reached around 200,000 in 2008. Out of these, trainees, of whom there were 86,826 in 2008, are not included in the legal definition of “worker” and thus not counted for as “workers” since they are under a training regime. 14. While this opening up of the migration policy and the related increase of migrants generated considerable needs in terms of social welfare, medical care, education, housing and community life, the revision of the law did not include the establishment of a comprehensive policy aimed at recognizing and implementing the rights and welfare of migrants in these fields. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur also notes media reports that Japan has not pursued policy measures to attract migrant workers to address its labour shortage and to ensure their welfare and integration in the Japanese society.4 The current Government, before gaining power in 2009, had campaigned for the strengthening of these rights and the adoption of a comprehensive immigration policy. However, the Special Rapporteur notes that, since then, no action has been taken. 15. Finally, there is no legislation in Japan that manifestly prohibits and punishes racial discrimination. Various United Nations bodies, in particular the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination5 and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,6 have urged Japan to 4 5 6 See e.g. The New York Times, “Despite Shortage, Japan Keeps a High Wall for Foreign Labor”, 3 January 2011. Available from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/world/asia/03japan.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2. See concluding observations , CERD/C/304/Add.114, paras. 10 to 12 and CERD/C/JPN/CO/3-6, para 9. See E/CN.4/2006/16/Add.2, para. 76. 5