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[TOKYO, 31 March 2010] — Racism and discrimination remain common in Japan, a United Nations envoy warned on Wednesday, urging greater efforts to protect the rights of foreign minorities. Jorge Bustamante, UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, issued the warning after interviewing government ministers and officials, migrants, lawyers, teachers, academics and civil society activists. Problem areas included immigrant detention centres, work programmes that exploit foreign industrial trainees, and a lack of educational services for many migrant children, Bustamante said. "Based on information provided by civil society ... (Japan) is still facing a range of challenges, including racism and discrimination," he said after a nine-day visit to Tokyo, Toyota City, Nagoya and Hamamatsu. Bustamante also visited the East Japan Detention Centre near Tokyo and schools for foreign children, and interviewed Chinese, South Korean, Brazilian, Peruvian and Philippine migrants. "Racism and discrimination based on nationality are still too common in Japan, including in the workplace, in schools, in health care establishments and housing," he said. "Japan should adopt special legislation on the prevention and elimination of racial discrimination since the current general provisions included in the constitution and laws are not effective in protecting foreign residents." The UN envoy called for a programme to be stopped in which overseas workers come to Japan as trainees and technical interns but often find themselves exploited, working long hours for little pay. "Industrial trainees and technical interns programmes often fuel demand for exploitative cheap labour under conditions that constitute violations of the right to physical and mental health," he said. "This programme should be discontinued." Bustamante also said that "a considerable number of migrant children in Japan do not attend school". "Government efforts should be increased to facilitate that foreign children study either in Japanese or foreign schools, and learn Japanese," he said. He said that in many cases "parents of children born in Japan or who have lived there for up to 15 years have been recently deported or detained, resulting in the children being separated from their parents." "In accordance with the principle of the best interest of the child, families should not be separated," he said. He also raised concerns about the detention of illegal migrants, including parents with children, as well as asylum seekers, often for years, recommending that "a maximum period of detention pending deportation should be set." Bustamante said he would issue a final report by October after listening to the Japanese government's reaction on his tentative report and submit it to the UN Human Rights Council. Further information