"Migrant workers do not need your pity. They are survivors in this society. Even though you do not gain anything from it, I hope you do it because it is the right thing to do."

Norma Kang Muikco, East-Asia Researcher for Amnesty International who is scheduled to publicize an in-depth report on human rights' status of migrant workers in Korea on October 21, said on reasons why people should pay attention to the issues.

On 26th, a seminar 'Human Right Situation in Korea from International Standard' was held in the building of Graduate School of Law, Yonsei University. It was co-hosted by Korean Lawyers' Group, Amnesty International, and Center for Public Interest & Minorities' Human Rights, Hanyang University.

On the second session of 'Human Rights Issues of Migrant Workers,' East Asia Researcher, Norma Kang Muico, presented briefly about her study. She said, the publication of the report has been delayed a month, and a press conference of the report will be held on October 21st at the Press Center.

Researcher Muico explained that the 100 odd pages of report is about Employment Permit System (EPS) which has been enforced since 2004 while her predecessor Rajiv Narayan completed another report of 30-40 pages about migrant workers' human rights in 2006. She said the report on economic, social and cultural rights of migrant workers in Korea has been prepared comprehensively in cooperation with two interns, diverse teams of policy, legal support and gender, and groups of lawyers.

Researcher Muico said, while the process has been difficult and painful, it is a sound and solid report, and will suggest a model on migrant workers' human rights for Asia-Pacific area.

Use of 'Informal Words' in Detention Centers Shows Attitudes to Migrant Workers

Especially, Muico said that the report includes cases where the state was irresponsible for its due diligence of monitoring and restricting non-state actors or employers who did not abide by the laws. She also said that any cases of discriminations between Korean workers and migrants have been included in the report. Muico said that under the economic downturn worldwide, migrant workers are suffering ever more from it and in 'economically strong countries,' migrant workers have received rare attentions from the public. "Therefore making the public getting involved in the issues is becoming ever more important," she added.

She said that she has been appointed on February 2008 as the South-East Researcher in order to deal with human right issues of migrant workers in the region. She said her research has begun the following month. "My period in office is as same as that of President Lee Myung-Bak by accident," she smiled.

She said that her research on migrant workers had been interrupted by the candlelight virgil demonstrations on March 2008 and later she visited Korea on November, the following April, May and July to continue her research on human rights situation of migrant workers in Korea. She distinguished the rights of migrant workers from those of candlelight virgil: migrant workers' rights are complicated ones of economic, social and cultural, while those of candlelight virgils were civil and political.

She quoted the grand-scale crackdowns in Maseok, Kyeonggi-do by the Immigration Services, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Police where they arrested about 100 unregistered migrant workers. She said that the crackdown was a part of government policy to reduce the number of unregistered migrant workers. She interviewed the migrant workers who escaped the crackdown in a hospital and two foreigners' detention centers. Through the interviews she said she realized the related government agencies did not consider the human rights of the migrants at all.

Muico introduced an episode which explicitly shows the attitude of government toward migrant workers. When she visited Foreigners' Detention Center, Incheon Airport, the immigration official used the 'informal language' to the migrant workers she was interviewing and even to her. She explained that in Korean cultural context the use of informal language was a threat that 'If you don't follow my orders, I will not let you go in peace' and was actually silencing them.

She confessed that in an 'advanced' country like Korea the use of 'informal' language to foreigners in detention centers have been nothing but a shock.

All Discussions Stoped at Borders Between Legal and Illegal

South-East Researcher Norma Kang Muico confessed that all discussions stopped at borders between legal and illegal. The immigration services had attitudes that they didn't regard the human rights of migrant workers because they were 'unregistered' or 'illegal,' and that was also true during the candlelight virgil demonstrations.

She said, while the nationals are protected by the constitutions, the human rights and other basic rights of migrants are ignored in the same constitutions. Arrest warranties had not been issued, no agreement and signatures had been necessary and the rights guaranteed by the Miranda principles had not been notified. Also the fact that migrants themselves did not know about their rights had made the situations more complicated.

As a conclusion, she said that there are two different kinds of laws in Korea: one for Koreans and the other for migrant workers. Government has never paid attentions to why they became unregistered and how much they have been exploited. She emphasized that unregistered migrant workers are not 'criminals' but they are only lack of some papers according to administrative regulations.

She arrived at three conclusions. ▲ First, we have to find an alternative to confining migrant workers in detention centers. ▲ Second, a lot of accidents take place during the relentless crackdowns. For the case of Maseok, the immigration services said 'there had been an ambulance for emergency.' However, the ambulance had never been used to carry any migrant workers injured during the crackdown. She said she understood that the immigration services ignored the injured migrant workers at the site even though they knew the injuries because they did not want to be responsible for the hospital fees for them. ▲ Third, about the media. In general, the words and the attitudes of the government have been very irresponsible. The press release of the government concerning the crackdown in Maseok said that they "had to" do that because of the neighbors' requests. However, when Muico visited Ansan, one of migrants-populated areas in Korea, the Korean neighbors said that the crackdowns actually hampers the businesses in the city and the relations between Korean neighbors and migrants were found inter-dependent. Migrants were buying foods and renting houses in the area. She warned that when such press releases are transmitted through major media to general public without filtering, they would foster genophobia among them.

Constitution Should include Protection of Migrants

Law Professor Chan-Woon Park of Hanyang University as a discussant of the seminar said that the report by Norma Kang Muico would expose the shocking aspects of Korean government regarding human rights of migrant workers and would make the government exert strenuous efforts.

Professor Park pointed out four things. ▲ First, we need to introduce 'warranty procedures' regarding with forced deportation of migrants. ▲ Korean government recently introduced the Protection of Personal Liberty Act but it excludes migrants from the legal protection. He pointed out that the excluding article violates International Covenant on Economic, Social and Political Rights or ICESP. ▲ Third, while a new Law Banning Discrimination on Migrants has been suggested, it is based on only 18-19 discriminating cases. He advised that it would be better to make general concepts on discriminations first and to induce concrete cases from them. ▲ Fourth, he suggested that civil groups should publicize human rights infringement cases through the 3rd conference of the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in Geneva, November this year. And he strongly demanded that Korean government should sign on International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

"Children's Rights Should Have Highest Priority Over All Laws"

During the question-and-answer session, a reporter from a major press agency asked a question to Muico researcher whether her report has any coercive strengths over Korean government. She answered, "We don't have any coercive strength but the world believes us, governments believe us, the UN believe us, and NGOs care about what we say." And she added that with the 3rd conference of the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in Geneva, November this year, it is lucky that Korean government does care about what major international players say about. 

A participant who introduced herself to have worked as an intern for Public Interest Group Gonggam asked two questions. First, even though the foreigners' detention centers across the nation are for short-term protections, there have been long-term detainees. She asked if there is any alternative to detaining migrants in foreigners' detention centers. She also mentioned that when a migrant woman who comes to Korea under EPS gives birth to a baby, unless she leaves in a month, she has to pay a great deal of penalty money. The participant asked what were the ideas of the presenter and the discussant about 'territorial principle' or giving citizenships to locally born children of migrant workers?

About the first question, Muico answered that she visited the foreigners' detention centers such as Yeosu, Cheongju and Hwaseong and found the recreational facilities were quite new. However, she couldn't even get into other detention centers and pointed out the problems are with those centers of Mokdong and Uijeongbu since the facilities are built not for detention purposes but for offices.

Also, for the second question, she emphasized "While deciding to whom the citizenships should be given requires reasonable discretions, children's rights should have the highest priority over all laws."

Professor Chan-Woon Park also explained about four principles regarding detaining foreigners. ▲ First, dealing with foreigners of forced deportations, 'non-detaining principle' should be observed. ▲ The foreigners' detention centers should not be any kind of criminal detention centers. Because the unregistered migrant workers are not criminals, any treatment regarding them as criminals should be avoided. The process of forced deportations are only administrative procedures through which migrants who are lack of papers are relocated beyond borders. ▲ Good monitoring whether they are judicial or non-judicial over detention centers, and quality facilities of detention centers according to OECD standards are needed. ▲ Korean government should also abide by international human right standards such as the UN Detainees' Protection Principles (1988).

Professor Park also said that while the adoption of territorial principle should be based on people's agreement, Korean government, the member of the Convention of Children's Rights, has not ignored many parts of the conventions. We need to increase the human rights standards in Korea by reflecting the ignored parts to the laws.

Looking at Migrant Issues from International Perspectives

Minha Park, member of International Amnesty, said "The issues of migrant workers in Korea is summarized as "Korea wanted arms and legs but human-beings came over."" He expressed his opinion that the systematic improvement requires conceptual improvement first, and asked Muico what she wants to say to Korean people.  

Norma Kang Muico said that Korea is the nation which adopted EPS first which grants migrant workers just the same rights as those of Korean workers in principle. However, the reversion tendencies of the current government including reduced minimum wages and deduction of boarding fees from migrant workers' salaries in addition to the general economic downturns are worrisome factors for human rights of migrant workers.

She asked in return "What is 'economically strong country' or 'being modern'?" and emphasized that migrant workers need 'compassion.' The society needs to pay attentions to the most vulnerable members of the society.

"Migrant workers do not need your pity. They are survivors in this society. Even though you do not gain anything from it, I hope you do it because it is the right thing to do."

She also said "I am doing my work not for human rights but for justice beyond laws."

Lawyer Mee-Hwa Jeong, the moderator of the seminar, said that last year and this summer he had a chance to look over the human rights situation in Asia. He said while the situation in Korea is better than those of other Asian countries, the worsened situation of human rights of migrant workers in Korea is the one aspect of neoliberalism where capitals can cross borders freely while human beings cannot.

He also said that the issues of migrant workers are cosmopolitan, and we need to pay attentions to other countries including receiving and sending nations such as the Philippines, Hong Kong, Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Indonesia.

He added that when he visited Bangladesh he met the children who were born between Bangladesh workers and Korean mothers. Since the Bangladesh laws do not allow double nationality, they got rid of their Korean passports and led difficult lives there. Lawyer Jang said that because the children did not have Korean nationality, they could not be protected by the consuls. He warned that unless we do not solve the problems for children of migrant workers, the results would damage us in return.

Finally, Norma Kang Muico wrapped up the seminar by saying the meaningful statement. "If we close our eyes on others' human rights, ours would disappear."