Canada said it granted refugee status to two Japanese women last September due to widespread discrimination they faced in Japan as lesbians and members of the weaker sex.
Ottawa also cited the lack of legal marriage in Japan for same-sex couples as a reason to certify the couple as refugees, noting the couple was denied the benefits given under the Japanese system to those in opposite-sex marriages.
Canadian immigration authorities said the fear of facing persecution in Japan held by the two women was grounded on a sufficient basis.
One woman who goes by Eri is in her 30s and her partner Hana is in her 50s. They moved together to Canada in 2021 after experiencing discrimination in their community and in their workplaces. They now have permanent resident status in Canada.
They submitted a document to the Canadian government that ran to about 200 pages explaining the situation they faced in Japan and the current legal system regarding same-sex marriage.
They were accepted as refugees after interviews and public hearings.
The document notifying the women of their certification as refugees pointed out what the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women described in its report on Japan and said discrimination was widespread in Japan. The notification said refugee status was granted because the rights of women and sexual minorities were not sufficiently protected in Japan.
The women explained they were now going public about gaining refugee status because they wanted to heighten awareness within the Japanese government and among the public.
They noted that many women, as well as LGBTQs in Japan, continue to face the same difficulties they did.
While the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has said that dozens of Japanese are granted refugee status in other nations every year, its reports do not give specific reasons for doing so.
[Asahi Shimbun](https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15271758)
Disclaimer: Since it seems some people are confused, the writer (Onuki Satoko) is a feminist writer who mostly writes articles on feminism-related subjects, so the news is not necessarily written objectively or neutrally.
by Wild_Ebb5097
