Ban on forcing interns to commit to 'return home when pregnant or giving birth'

The Overseas Labor Management Department prohibits businesses from requiring trainees to commit or advise that they must return home if they become pregnant or give birth during their working period in Japan.

The above request was just made after the Department of Overseas Labor Management (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs) discussed with the Organization for Technical Intern Training of Japan (OTIT). Previously, OTIT investigated and discovered that some interns were required by enterprises to sign a commitment or consultation with the content that "they will have to return home if they become pregnant or give birth during their internship in Japan".

The Department of Overseas Labor Management affirmed that this is not in accordance with the laws of the two countries and the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on the Skill Internship Program. In case the intern is pregnant or gives birth, the enterprise must discuss with the management organization, the receiving company and that person to consider the wishes and have an appropriate solution to ensure the rights of the worker.

A notice board outside a training class for workers going to work in Japan in Hanoi, May 2023. Photo: Hong Chieu — A notice board outside a training class for workers going to work in Japan in Hanoi , May 2023. Photo: *Hong Chieu*

Japan established the Technical Intern Trainee Program in 1993 to support workers from developing countries in acquiring skills in areas such as agriculture , construction and food processing. Each training course lasts no more than five years, and workers returning to their home countries after working in Japan are expected to be highly skilled human resources in their trained professions.

However, some employers have taken advantage of the program to find cheap labor, putting trainees at risk of exploitation and abuse. On April 10, a panel of 15 experts, scholars and provincial leaders in Japan proposed scrapping the program because it focuses on “human resources” - an element that is exploited to turn trainees into manual workers due to severe labor shortages caused by an aging population.

The program has also come under fire after several foreign trainees became pregnant and were deported. On April 20, Japanese police arrested a 19-year-old Vietnamese trainee in Hiroshima for allegedly abandoning the body of a newborn baby boy in a vacant lot. Police confirmed the trainee was the baby’s mother after DNA testing.

About 328,000 Vietnamese people reside in Japan as technical interns, according to the Immigration Bureau.

Hong Chieu

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