By KYOKA WATANABE/ Staff Writer
September 13, 2024 at 15:02 JST
The Nagoya High Court granted Japanese citizenship to a child born in Japan to Afghan parents who fled their home country after the 2021 Taliban takeover. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
NAGOYA--In a groundbreaking decision, the Nagoya High Court granted Japanese nationality to a child born in Japan to Afghan refugees because the parents were essentially “stateless” at the time of birth.
The Sept. 11 ruling allows the 1-year-old girl, who was born in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, in November 2022, to be registered as a Japanese citizen.
The girl’s parents fled Afghanistan after the Taliban took over and were granted refugee status in Japan in August 2023. They filed a petition with the Toyohashi branch of the Nagoya Family Court seeking Japanese nationality for their child.
The family court rejected the request in November 2023, citing the parents’ failure to complete the necessary procedures to renounce their Afghan citizenship.
The parents appealed the decision.
In the Sept. 11 ruling, Presiding Judge Yasuhiro Hasegawa noted that the Taliban had seized control over Afghanistan by force in 2021.
“Although the Taliban declared the establishment of a nation, it has not been officially recognized as a state or government by the international community, including Japan,” Hasegawa stated.
The court determined that the parents, although technically Afghan citizens, were effectively stateless when their child was born.
Therefore, the girl met the legal requirements for Japanese citizenship, as stipulated in the Japanese Nationality Law, which grants Japanese nationality to children born in Japan to stateless parents.
“This decision opens the door for children in similar situations to be raised in Japan,” said Yasuyuki Nagai, the lawyer representing the family.
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