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NHRCK Advised the Korean Government to Formulate Policies for Asylum Seekers
Date : 2006.06.27 00:00:00 Hits : 1071
National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) presented its opinions that the Korean Government should improve its overall policies concerning refugees. The Commission concluded that Korea’s domestic laws and policies on refugee status decision procedures and social treatment toward refugees do not conform to international standards for refugee protection even though the Government joined the “Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees” and “Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees” in 1992 and has acted as a member of Executive Board of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since 2001.
NHRCK examined relevant domestic laws such as the Immigration Law and the National Basic Living Security Act, while referring to UNHCR Executive Board’s conclusion, refugee status determination criteria, the asylum procedure guidebook and UN Human Rights Treaty Monitoring Bodies reviews based upon Preamble, Article 6 and Article 12 of the Korean Constitution, as well as “Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees”, “Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees” and the UN Human Rights Treaty. The Commission confirmed that the Government should develop the following policies to secure fair and effective asylum procedures and give better social treatment to refugees and asylum seekers.
1. For complying with international standards of refugee protection:
- To put “Principle of Non-Refoulement” in statutory form and to prescribe a restricted exclusion clause
- To make legal grounds for responsibility to collaborate with UNHCR and to allow it to give opinions on a particular case when it deems necessary
- To put “Principle of Family Unity” of refugees in statutory form and to insure legal residence and work by granting temporary status toward: asylum seekers who are necessarily protected by the “Principle of Non-Refoulement”; prima facie refugees; and asylum seekers to be protected on humanitarian grounds
2. For securing fair and effective asylum procedures:
- To improve accessibility for asylum seekers to refugee status decision procedure, to promote expertise in its administration by acquiring the appropriate number of officers and to enhance interpretation skills in order to enable proper communications in an interview
- To make legal grounds of refugee status determination bodies and to insure first and second incidents operate independently
- To guarantee asylum seekers of the ‘right to interview’ in the asylum procedure; to make a clear statement about reasons of decline of any application and to guarantee asylum seekers of ‘access to relevant information regarding their’ application held by the government; to secure appropriate legal support for asylum seekers in asylum procedures such as application for refugee status, administrative appeal and administrative litigation.
3. For giving better social treatment to refugees and asylum seekers:
- To enhance settlement programs such as Korean language and vocational training for refugees to help them settle down in local environments including legal system and culture
- To make legal grounds for refugee’s children to have compulsory education from primary school to high school
- To ensure for the Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare to approve refugees as recipients of the National Basic Living Security Act; to approve refugees as applicants for the National Pension Fund and its single sum repayment; to include refugees as recipients of the Medical Treatment Care Act and Welfare Support for Emergency Act
4. For securing fair and effective refugee status determination procedures and giving better social treatment to refugees and asylum seekers:
- To enact single refugee law providing for refugee status determination procedures and social treatment for refugees on a long-term basis
- To withdraw the reservation to Article 7 of the “Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees” and exempt refugees in Korea from the principle of reciprocity

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