PLATFORM Course: A syllabus for Governance of International Migration

Watanabe Shinichi

December 26, 2007

This course is developed for the research projects being implemented under the PLATFORM of “International migration and the transformation of social capital in Japan.”

The research during the winter term will be focused on the human rights issues associated with the legal status of foreign residents, including the cases of Japan. They include the access of foreign residents to the medical insurance under the National Health Insurance Law, the problem of out-of-wedlock children of a non-citizen mother to acquire the Japanese citizenship, and the free access to public compulsory education of the children including undocumented ones.

Week 1 – 4 The rights of migrant workers and international legal arrangements to

protect foreign residents

Week 5 – 7 Government services and citizenship in Japan

Week 8 – 10 International laws, domestic laws and social capital for human rights of

foreign residents

Grade will be based on class participation (70%) and one group paper (30%). The contents will subject to many changes, depending on the development of interest of students and myself.

References

Legal documents to protect the human rights of migrants:

OHCHR

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, adopted by General Assembly on 18 December 1990 and entered into force on 1 July 2003.

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/m_mwctoc.htm

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/6/cmw/

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu6/2/fs24.htm

ILO

http://www.migrantsrights.org/ILO_report101199.htm　

NGO

http://www.migrantsrights.org/index.htm

http://www.december18.net/web/general/page.php?pageID=145&menuID=36&lang=EN

Crane Stephen Landis (1996): “Human rights violations in Japan: a contemporary

survey,” J. of International Law and Practice, Spring. Available at LexisNexis.

Sumi Shin (2001): “New comer migrants: Implications for Japan’s administration of

social services and nationality,” UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign

Affairs, Fall. Available at LexisNexis.

While references will be selected to meet our progress, the following websites provide the basic information on international migration:

http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/cache/offonce/pid/1674?entryId=4992

http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/cache/offonce/pid/1674?entryId=932

http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/published_docs/periodicals_and_newsletters/Migration_Dec07.pdf

http://www.iom.int/jahia/jsp/index.jsp