Page 3 - Foreign Trainees News Today

The panel said a new system should be established that recognizes the interns as workers helping Japan overcome its labor shortage.

According to estimates, only about 130,000 of the 340,000 vacancies on a Japanese government program to employ foreigners with special skills, in sectors like caregiving, have been filled.

Le Thi Thuy Linh placed the bodies in a cardboard box and left them on a shelf in her room for around 33 hours, along with a letter of apology.

Recommendations by a working group under the world body's Human Rights Council also included improving working conditions for those in the country's Technical Intern Training Program.

Justice Minister Ken Saito assumed the post in place of Yasuhiro Hanashi, who was dismissed from the role following remarks that were interpreted as making light of his responsibilities.

A government panel tasked with reviewing the country's foreign trainee program held its first meeting Wednesday to address issues relating to human rights

Cases of harassment and abuse of foreign trainees on the Technical Intern Training Program has resulted in mounting criticism at home and abroad for the decades-old program.

The law on equal opportunity employment for men and women prohibits unfair treatment on the basis of an individual giving birth or becoming pregnant.

Some employees feel the country needs to welcome more foreign workers as immigrants to keep the economy going.

The government is conducting a survey to determine whether trainees have been forced by employers or intermediary groups to leave the country because they became pregnant or gave birth.