Foundation for the Welfare and Education of the Asian People

Head Office:
Address: 2^nd floor, Foundation for the Welfare and Education of
the Asian People Bldg., 5-1-27 Minami Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0047
Tel: +81-3-3449-7011
Fax: +81-3-3449-7016/7017
URL: http://www.rhq.gr.jp

Kansai Branch:
Address: 11^th floor, Nihon Seimei Kobe Eki Mae Bldg., 
2-1-18 Nakamachi-dori, Chuo-ku, Kobe  650-0027
Tel: +81-78-361-1700
Fax: +81-78-361-1323

International Refugee Assistance Center:
3-2-1 Yashio, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo  140-0003
Tel: +81-3-3799-1001
Fax: +81-3-3799-3079

Organizational Profile:

Refugee Assistance Headquarters (RHQ) is an organization which implements the Japanese Government’s refugee assistance work. The RHQ has its head office in Tokyo, a branch in Kobe and a reception center (International Refugee Assistance Center) in Tokyo, which can accommodate approximately 700 people.

Activities

1. IndoChinese Refugee Assistance

The RHQ operates the International Refugee Assistance Center and offers IndoChinese refugees and their families who want to resettle in Japan Japanese language education, employment services, orientation about life in Japan and other services for 6 months. Advisory services to refugees are also provided after they leave the Center and settle into their new lives. Assistance to resettled refugees in their community activities is a part of the services after resettlement.

The Government of Japan acceded to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1981 and to the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1982. Following a requisite screening, assistance is available to those asylum seekers who claim refugee status on the basis of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act and who face undue hardship during the period while their status is screened. Minimal financial assistance is provided for living expenses, medical costs and housing expenses.

Fact-finding surveys on assistance for and the state of refugee overseas are carried out in the country or region in question or through international organizations.

Support is provided for the capacitation of NGO staff and volunteers who are engaged in refugee relief work in Japan and/or overseas. This includes holding workshops on emergency response and lectures on refugee situations.

(as of January 2002)