Nearly a quarter of the 127 foreigners who have been detained at detention centers for more than six months as of April 30 have Japanese spouses, according to government data released Monday by an opposition party.
Detaining foreign nationals who have Japanese spouses is an infringement of their right to family unity guaranteed under the U.N. International Covenants on Human Rights, the office of Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima said.
The data show 30 of the foreigners have Japanese spouses, but the reasons for their detention are not specified, a staff member at the office said. Fukushima obtained the data from the Justice Ministry in response to a query.