A/HRC/17/33/Add.3 education and her parents. She decided that she wanted to continue her education in Japan, and her parents were eventually deported. This case generated fierce debate in the Japanese society. 56. The Special Rapporteur met with Noriko and other children who were under the threat of deportation for themselves or their parents: they all explained that being deported would ruin their life and their education, as they were born in Japan, their native language was Japanese and they did not speak the language of their parents’ country of origin (Spanish or Filipino in many cases). They would not be in a position to continue their education in another language, or would lose too many years of education. I. Access to public services by irregular migrants 57. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that the recent reform of the registration system for foreign nationals may negatively affect the level of access to public services by irregular migrants. The foreigners’ registration system has recently been modified by the Revised Basic Resident Registration Act, approved on 15 July 2009. Under the current system still in place, there are two registration systems. On the one hand, municipalities issue registration certificates to all migrants who stay in Japan for not less than 90 days, including irregular migrants. Registration certificates are issued by municipalities of their residence and the municipalities provide public services in the field of health, education and housing to registered migrants. On the other hand, the Ministry of Justice’s Immigration Bureau issues residence permits only to regular migrants. 58. Under the proposed new law, there will only be one registration system. The municipal registration certificate will be abolished and replaced by a Resident Card (Zairyu Card) that will be issued by the Immigration Bureau to foreigners who have a permission to stay in Japan for more than three months. Foreigners with a Resident Card will be registered in municipalities of their residence. This is a positive step for regular migrants who will be registered in the same registration system as Japanese citizens and will have a smoother access to public services. However, it leaves the situation of irregular migrants uncovered, since municipalities will not be in a position to register them anymore. Since they will become invisible for municipalities, it is doubtful whether access to essential health services will still be provided to them, or whether they will continue to receive invitations to send their children to public schools. Despite assurances by the Ministry that these services will continue to be provided, it is unclear how this will be ensured in practice. J. Violence and discrimination against migrant women 59. According to Government statistics, 6.1 per cent of approximately 730,000 marriages registered in 2006 were marriages between Japanese and foreigners. In 81 per cent of these cases, it consists of a Japanese man and a foreign wife, mainly from China and the Philippines. Some 36,000 children of those born in 2006 (3.2 per cent) had one or two foreign parents. 60. Migrant women face twofold discrimination, as foreigners and as women. Often their children also endure consequences of this discrimination. The prevalence of domestic violence is high in Japan15 and one may assume that it is even higher in the case of migrant 15 14 The Special Rapporteur on the human rights aspects of the victims of trafficking in persons, especially women and children reported that “according to the statistics provided by the Cabinet