The Foreign Workforce Policy Committee under the Prime Minister" s Office announced the " Proposal on Improvement of the Employment Permit System (hereinafter referred to as the " Proposal" )" for migrant workers on November 30, 2006. On January 22, 2007, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) issued recommendations on changes to some parts of the Proposal that appertain to the human rights of migrant workers.
The aforementioned Proposal was prepared to pave the way for the abolition of the existing Industrial Trainee System and the full-scale implementation of an employment permit system. Under the Industrial Trainee System, such entities that are authorized to recommend trainees as the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, Construction Association of Korea, National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, and National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (hereinafter referred to as the " trainee recommendation associations" ) have been responsible for bringing migrant workers to Korea. These trainee recommendation associations have come under criticism for a range of issues including human rights violations of migrant workers.
The Proposal suggests that the former trainee recommendation associations be added to the list of agencies that will locally interview and select workers overseas on behalf of Korean employers. It also suggests that the trainee recommendation associations be allowed to participate in vocational training of migrant workers. The Commission considers these proposals problematic and to pose a direct risk to human rights of migrant workers. It, therefore, decided to issue recommendations on improvements of the Proposal to the Prime Minister and Minister of Labor. The recommendations were prepared in accordance with the National Human Rights Commission Act of the Republic of Korea, Article 25, Paragraph 1 (Recommendation for Improvement or Rectification of Policies and Practices), which stipulates as follows:
The Commission may, if deemed necessary to protect and promote human rights, recommend entities to improve or rectify specific policies and practices, or may present opinions thereon.
The Recommendation issued to the Prime Minister states the following:
Considering the purpose of the employment permit policy,
1) the Human Resources Development Service of Korea should in principle continue to be the only gateway through which migrant workers are brought to Korea; and
2) no other agency should be entrusted by Korean employers to represent them overseas in interviews of candidates and selection of workers.
Recommendations made to the Minister of Labor include the following:
First, with regard to the designation of agencies and their work scope,
1) the Enforcement Ordinance of the Act on Foreign Workers’ Employment, etc. should be revised, and when the Ministry of Labor promulgates a notice or an established rule, certain parts of the work should be commissioned to a public body; and
2) in the case of any entity representing employers that handles the entire application, selection, and relocation process for migrant workers, the labor minister should prepare for a set of procedures and monitor the entity" s management of the process in order to uphold the purpose of the Employment Permit System, which is to ensure the availability of needed labor in Korea.
Second, concerning vocational training,
1) criteria for selection of vocational training institutes should be formulated separately from those for selection of agencies handling administrative tasks;
2) a body to monitor and supervise vocational training institutes is required, and such a body should not also be a vocational training institute; and
3) sanctions to be imposed against failing vocational training institutes should be devised, e.g., in case training is found to fall short of certain standards, the license of the vocational training institute in question should be revoked.
Third, the government or the Human Resources Development Service of Korea should mediate and resolve any conflict of interest between an employer and its migrant worker(s),
Fourth, a professional translation agency should be established to provide services specifically for migrant workers to help them more easily adapt to Korea and to protect their human rights. Furthermore, other bodies in addition to the Korea Labor Welfare Corporation and the Human Resources Development Service of Korea should be made responsible for overall management of civic groups that provide assistance to migrant workers with their difficulties, grievances, and accidents that may occur.
The NHRCK expressed its hope that the government would seriously consider its recommendations and articulated its intention to proactively prevent human rights violations against migrant workers and effect corrections as necessary with respect to human rights issues arising from the implementation of the Employment Permit System.
