A/HRC/17/33/Add.3 this company indicated that discrimination against migrant workers was blatant: meals in the cafeteria of the company were more expensive for foreigners; the same was true for the price of uniforms and security accessories. This company eventually dismissed 170 migrant workers on 25 December 2008, and ended up dismissing all its migrant workers in April 2009. In addition, the company distributed to other companies a list of those dismissed migrant workers who were members of trade unions. 72. Brazilian workers recalled that, although Japanese labour regulation explicitly prohibits and punishes discriminatory treatment with respect to working conditions by reason of the worker’s nationality, this prohibition is not implemented in practice and discrimination is recurrent. 73. Against this backdrop, it is of serious concern to the Special Rapporteur that the judiciary tends to discriminate against migrants, thereby leaving them with no effective remedies. As an illustration, the Special Rapporteur was informed of complaints concerning discrimination against and unfair dismissals of migrant workers, which were filed by lawyers of the migrant workers’ trade union in the Nagoya District Court. In this case, the Court refused to admit all the evidence and dismissed the complaints. The Special Rapporteur regrets that such failure of the judiciary to recognize and sanction discriminatory treatments against migrant workers leaves victims unprotected and may condone discrimination against migrant workers in a similar manner by other employers. M. Limited access to health and welfare insurance 74. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reported that, in theory, labour standards apply to all, irrespective of nationality. In practice, however, certain categories of migrant workers may be left without either employer-based or national health and welfare insurance. Migrant workers, particularly those in the manufacturing industry, are employed by temporary employment agencies which sometimes neglect to contribute premiums for health and welfare insurance, despite their legal obligation to do so. While national health insurance provides a safety net for those without employer-based health insurance, many migrant workers cannot afford to pay the premiums themselves. Furthermore, in principle, the national health insurance is available to foreign nationals who have a residence visa for 12 months or longer. This effectively creates a lacuna of protection for irregular migrants and migrants staying in Japan for a short time. At the municipal level, authorities have indicated that the issue of appropriate access to social security and health insurance coverage for migrant workers is a major problem. N. Political participation 75. According to the national law regulating elections, migrants cannot vote or run in national or local elections, even if they are permanent residents and/or born and raised in Japan throughout their lives. However, the Hamamatsu municipality has taken some interesting initiatives in this area, considering that migrants should be allowed to take part in local decision-making processes in order to be fully integrated into the society. For that purpose, the Foreign Residents Assembly has been established in the City Hall to reflect the opinion of the migrants’ community in the city. VI. Conclusions and recommendations 76. Despite some recent efforts to provide protection and assistance to migrants, particularly those who found themselves in difficult situations as a consequence of the 17