By 
11-05-2026 | Lola Louise-Alexandrine | Asia Team Researcher, Global Human Rights Defence.
In May 2026, the Prefecture of Ibaraki in Japan launched a “whistleblower reward program” that pays residents to provide tips on undocumented foreign workers. By encouraging public suspicion of foreigners, the program ultimately fosters discrimination and social division and further paves the way for human rights violations in the region.
On May 11th, 2026, in Japan, the Ibaraki Prefecture officially put in place a reward for reporting illegal foreign workers, ultimately institutionalising discrimination and suggesting violations of the fundamental rights of foreign workers. Under this new system, residents can submit information via the prefectural website and receive a reward of ten thousand yen if it eventually leads to arrests. Thus, citizens are encouraged to view all people of foreign descent with suspicion, turning the general public into an informal surveillance wing of the state.
The program has been characterised by immigration experts as “a form of official xenophobia“. Professor Eriko Suzuki of Kokushikan University indicates that such a system risks attracting a surge of inaccurate or malicious reports based on prejudice. Indeed, according to Toshihiro Endo, Chairman of the Ibaraki Bar Association, the public cannot distinguish between legal and illegal employment status based on outward facts or “appearance”. The system could ultimately create a deep “social division” that will be difficult to repair.
Furthermore, Toshiro Endo notes that many undocumented workers in Ibaraki, primarily in the agricultural sector, are former technical interns who escaped environments characterised by “power harassment, sexual exploitation, and poor working conditions”. In this case, as noted by Jiho Yoshimizu, head of a nonprofit supporting Vietnamese residents, a reward system makes it dangerous for these victims to seek help because they could fear being reported and arrested. With this program, vulnerable people are put in a position where they are at even higher risk of exploitation. Even though Governor of Ibaraki, Kazuhiko Oigawa, insists that correcting illegal acts is a “fundamental responsibility” of the government, the backlash significantly shows growing consensus that public safety cannot be bought at the expense of human dignity.
By turning neighbours into informants, Ibaraki undermines the human rights of its international community.
