As concerns and fear spread rapidly across Japan, with relatively less

tests for COVID-19 compared to other OECD countries, civil society
organizations struggle to keep operating and supporting vulnerable
people, both in and outside of the country. Here are some examples.

NPO MOYAI, that supports people in vulnerable situations, including
homeless people, urged Prime Minister and the Health Minister to
strengthen social security by providing subsidies for housing, immediate
direct support etc.

SOLIDARITY NETWORK WITH MIGRANTS JAPAN appealed to support migrant
workers in Japan who are suffering from COVID-19, and published a
Q&A-style book on labour issues in 7 different languages (English,
Tagalog, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Burmese and Chinese).

On 9 April 2020, 247 non-profit organizations across Japan requested the
government to include NPOs as beneficiaries of immediate economic
packages, and to relax existing regulations on NPOs on tax and activity
reporting etc.

For international cooperation, AAR JAPAN conducts various activities to
prevent the spread COVID-19 in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey, and
provide sanitation goods to disability organizations in Japan.

NGO PLAS supports women living with HIV positive in Kenya and Uganda,
and TERRA RENAISSANCE started COVID-19 prevention measures and economic
support for IDPs and conflict survivors, ex-child soldiers in Uganda and
Democratic Republic of the Congo.

On 27 March 2020, JAPAN CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK ON SDGs published a
statement to take measures based on the principles of the SDG, including
1) Introduce measures for economic and social inclusion that leave no
one behind, 2) Solidarity and inclusion to bridge the physical distance
between them, 3) Ensure transparency and openness, and comply with
democracy and legal procedures in policy formulation and response.
https://918e59d6-07d0-49f8-a75d-62b41ffe7d11.filesusr.com/ugd/d7b557_12e855732880442c8d52749c9bb1435d.pdf

JAPAN NGO CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION (JANIC) held an online
consultation among its membership on 2 April 2020, and had informal
dialogues with MoFA/JICA for possible supports to NGOs. JANIC also
create a special webpage to introduce NGO activities towards COVID-19
(in Japanese only).
https://www.janic.org/blog/2020/04/16/emergency_covid19/

We will continue advocacy work on COVID-19 in coordination with CSO

friends and collegues in Asia and beyond.