2020 Joint Statement for the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
“We Are Here Now! #World_Against_Racism”
March 21 is the 54th United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. On this day, rallies and marches against racism are held in many countries. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, we replace our rally with this statement, hoping for a world without racism and sending our solidarity to actions against racism around the world.
More than 2.5 million migrants live in Korea. They suffer from racist policies and prejudices. Unregistered migrants continue to die and be injured during crackdowns and in the foreign “protection” facilities (immigration detention centres) where they are detained after crackdowns. The government encouraged the prejudice that migrants “take advantage of” health insurance and then charged them higher premiums than Korean nationals. The Employment Permit System (EPS), which bans changing workplaces, has produced an industrial accident rate among migrant workers more than six times that of Korean nationals. Not a few migrant women suffer violence and sexual violence from their husbands. A system under which the husband can affect a marriage migrant woman’s status of stay supports this. Refugees suffer from false interpretation in the screening process, employment restrictions and more. Migrant children whose births cannot be registered have even their basic rights violated.
In the COVID-19 crisis, too, migrants are placed in an even more vulnerable position. Even the information updated every day is not systematically translated or delivered, so it is hard for them to protect their own safety and receive support for damage. In Daegu, there was even a case in which masks were refused to foreigners simply because they were foreigners.
There are also developments during the COVID-19 crisis that raise concern about stronger prejudice and discrimination against migrants. Chinese nationals and Chinese Koreans suffer from discrimination, hatred and exclusion, and some have even lost their jobs. In the midst of this, the government and the ruling party are trying to introduce a “foreigner accommodation reporting system” using COVID-19 as a pretext. This encourages the prejudice that migrants are potentially dangerous people and seeks to strengthen control over them. It is also a serious problem that, in the West, blatant racism against Asian migrants is rampant under the pretext of COVID-19.
All United Nations committees, including those on civil and political rights, social rights, the rights of the child, the rights of persons with disabilities and the elimination of discrimination against women, have continuously recommended that discrimination related to race must be changed. In particular, in December 2018 the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination warned Korea, where racist sentiment is worsening, of a national crisis, and pointed out that the reality in which migrants who create the nation’s wealth cannot enjoy its benefits shows discrimination in Korea based on race, color, ethnicity and social class.
Last year, migrant women were outraged by the Iksan mayor’s remarks demeaning children of multicultural families and by the assault on a Vietnamese marriage migrant woman, and took protest action. This action quickly made the problems of migrant women widely known in society. Last year the government held a large-scale event to mark the 15th anniversary of the Employment Permit System and congratulated itself. However, rallies and actions by migrant workers demanding the abolition of the Employment Permit System exposed the fact that those 15 years were stained with blood and tears. Meanwhile, there was also joyous news: the family of Lurendo, a refugee who had been held at Incheon Airport for 287 days, finally entered Korea thanks to the solidarity and support of countless organizations, lawyers and individuals.
This shows how important it is, in standing against racism, that the voices of those directly affected ring out in the world and that solidarity answers them. To expand these voices and acts of solidarity further, we cry out together!
Racism and hatred OUT! NO RACISM!
Enact a comprehensive anti-discrimination act!
Stop the human hunt of crackdowns and deportations! Stop detention in foreign “protection” facilities!
Abolish the forced-labor Employment Permit System and realize a work permit system!
Guarantee the occupational safety of migrants!
Hatred of Chinese nationals and Chinese Koreans OUT!
Guarantee a secure right of residence for migrant women who are victims of gender-based violence!
Guarantee a refugee screening that respects human rights, and guarantee refugees’ right to work and right to survive!
Guarantee the basic rights of migrant children!
No Corona Racism
March 20, 2020
난민인권네트워크
단속추방반대! 노동비자 쟁취! 경기지역 이주노동자 공동대책위원회
외국인이주·노동운동협의회
이주노동자 차별철폐와 인권·노동권 실현을 위한 공동행동
차별금지법제정연대