Press conference statement
The Government Must Respond to the Cries of Refugees
On 19 August 2018, two Egyptian asylum seekers began an indefinite hunger strike on a cement floor. One of them had injured his leg at work and could barely walk. His wife, in the final stage of pregnancy, could hardly swallow her food as she watched her husband fast.
Not knowing where else to appeal, they began a one-person protest at a crosswalk in front of the Government Complex, in addition to the sit-in in front of the Hyoja Police Substation. The Hyoja Police Substation is secluded and almost no one passes by, and the road offers not a single patch of shade. Native Koreans would not have chosen either place for a sit-in. They took their places with only one wish: that the Blue House and the government would listen to their stories.
After their first-stage refugee applications were rejected, they could not accept the result and filed an appeal. They do not properly know why their applications were not accepted or when the result will come, and they continue to live in uncertainty, extending their visas every three months. More than two years have passed in this way.
In Korea, the chance that an asylum seeker is recognized as a refugee at the first examination is extremely small. In 2017, 121 asylum seekers were recognized as refugees. Of these, only 27 were recognized at the first stage of the application. This is 0.27% of all asylum seekers in 2017 (9942 people). The low recognition rate at the first examination is not because of the asylum seekers. It is because of a refugee status determination procedure that is neither fair nor transparent: interview questions that carry bias, insufficient information about the examination procedure, and interview records that the applicants themselves can hardly verify. Last July it also came to light that an official of the Ministry of Justice’s immigration office, who is supposed to conduct fair refugee examinations, had falsified refugee interview records together with an interpreter. It has already been revealed that the Ministry of Justice’s first-stage refugee examination has a fatal flaw that makes it impossible to guarantee fairness.
The overwhelming majority of asylum seekers who are not recognized at the first examination receive a one-page notice of the reasons for non-recognition written only in Korean. They are not told in detail which parts led to the rejection or why the documents they showed or submitted were not accepted, so they cannot understand the decision. Because the reasons are not specific, their appeals cannot be specific either.
The Refugee Committee, which conducts the second-stage examination on the appeals filed, is made up of 15 members. It met only six times in 2017. Naturally, asylum seekers waiting for the result of the second-stage examination have to wait a long time. Last year, the number of appeals examined at each meeting was as low as 470 and as high as 1077. It is extremely rare for the applicants to be called in to give their statements again; in most cases the decision is made by reviewing the documents from the first-stage examination. In other words, the second-stage examination proceeds on the basis of documents that were already distorted in the first stage. How much fairness can we expect from such a second-stage examination? Last year, only 24 people were recognized as refugees at the second stage.
The refugees on the sit-in are waiting for the result of this second-stage examination. Life in Korea as an asylum seeker without refugee status is a life excluded from every system of the state and society. Extending their visas every three months, they cannot have a decent job, cannot enroll in regional health insurance, and cannot receive help for a life of poverty. Asylum seekers who received the “living expense support” that anti-refugee groups talk about so much make up only 3.2% of all those eligible for living expense support, and although it can be paid for six months after the application, it is extremely rare for anyone to receive all six months because of a lack of information about how to apply, delays in examination, and other reasons.
They came out into the streets asking why their lives, or the lives of their families, have turned out this way, and what they can do. In a temporary stay with no end in sight and a bleak inability to plan for the future, they say their lives are being wasted. Can the government not hear their cries? Can it not see the waiting, disappointment, and despair they must have endured countless times before coming out into the streets for a hunger strike?
What has been the government’s response to the cries of asylum seekers? Until now, the government has solved the problem by blocking the routes through which people apply for asylum. When the number of Syrian asylum seekers grew, it barred Syrians from entering without a visa even in the airport transit area; when the number of Yemeni asylum seekers grew on Jeju Island, it abolished visa-free entry to Jeju for Yemenis. Its response to the rising number of asylum seekers because of the political situation in Egypt is likewise to abolish visa-free entry for Egyptians from 1 September.
The government must respond to their cries.
Stop immediately the approach of cutting off routes so that the voices of refugees do not grow louder. One route may be blocked for now, but the voices of refugees will never stop.
Listen actively to the voices of refugees and establish a fair and transparent refugee recognition procedure. Create an environment in which asylum seekers can live with dignity in Korea.
Stop immediately the acts of misleading the public with frames such as “abusive refugees” and stirring up anxiety and hatred. The only way to resolve the present social anxiety and conflict is for the government to take an active role in building a society in which neither refugees nor native residents are excluded and all can live together in harmony.
30 August 2018
All Civil Society Groups Supporting the Hunger Strike of Refugees
거창평화인권예술제위원회 / 경계를넘어 / 공익인권법재단 공감 / 광주인권지기 활짝 /구속노동자후원회 / 국제민주연대 / 난민인권센터 / 노동당 / 노동자연대 / 다른세상을향한연대 /다신인권센터 / 대구경북 차별금지법제정연대(대구경북여성단체연합, 대구여성의전화,
대구장애인차별철폐연대, 대구경북이주연대회의, 무지개인권연대, 청소년교육문화공동체반딧불이, 레드리본사회적협동조합, 레드리본인권연대, 대구경북HIV·AIDS감염인자조모임해밀, 대구경북노동인권센터, 대구경북교수노조, 대구경북진보연대, 대구경실련, 대구경북인도주의실천의사협의회, 행동하는의사회대구지부, 평화캠프대구지부, 인권실천시민행동, 대구기독교교회협의회인권위원회(NCCK), 민주사회를위한변호사모임대구지부, 대구경북양심수후원회, 인권운동연대, 대구시민단체연대회의, 대구민중과함께, 노동당대구시당, 녹색당대구시당, 민중당대구시당, 정의당대구시당, 소우주성문화센터) / 민주주의법학연구회 / 반성매매인권행동이룸 / 불교인권위원회 /빈곤과차별에저항하는인권운동연대 / 사회변혁노동자당 /서울인권영화제 / 서울장애인차별철폐연대 /성매매문제해결을위한전국연대(부설 여성인권센터 보다, 광주여성의전화 부설 한올지기, 광주여성인권지원센터, 대구여성인권센터, 수원여성의전화 부설 어깨동무, 모모이, 새움터, 인권희망 ‘강강술래’, 여성인권티움, 전북여성인권지원센터, 제주여성인권연대 부설 해냄, 불턱, 자활, 여성인권지원센터 살림, 전남여성인권지원센터, 경남여성회 부설 여성인권상담소 , 목포여성인권지원센터) / 성적소수문화인권연대 연분홍치마 / 아시아의친구들 / 아시아평화를향한이주 MAP /
옥바라지선교센터 / 외국인이주·노동운동협의회((사)지구촌사랑나눔중국동포의집, (사)한국이주민건강협회희망의친구들, 남양주샬롬의집, 부천이주노동복지센터, 서울외국인노동자센터, (사)외국인노동자와함께, 아산외국인노동자센터, 아시아인권문화연대, 외국인이주노동자인권을위한모임, 용인이주노동자쉼터, 의정부EXODUS, 인천외국인노동자센터, 파주샬롬의집, 포천나눔의집,한국이주여성인권센터) / 이주공동행동 /이주노동자차별철폐와인권노동권실현을위한공동행동(건강권실현을위한보건의료단체연합, 경기이주공대위, 공익인권법재단 공감, 구속노동자후원회, 노동당, 노동사회과학연구소, 노동전선, 노동자연대, 녹색당, 대한불교조계종사회노동위원회, 문화연대, 민주사회를위한변호사모임노동위원회, 민주주의법학연구회, 민주화를위한전국교수협의회, 사회변혁노동자당, 사회진보연대, 아시아의창, 이주노동자노동조합(MTU), (사)이주노동희망센터, 이주노동자운동후원회, 이주민방송(MWTV), 이주민센터 친구, 전국민주노동조합총연맹, 전국빈민연합, 전국철거민연합, 전국학생행진, 정의당, 지구인의정류장, 천주교인권위원회, 필리핀공동체카사마코, (사)한국불교종단협의회인권위원회, 한국비정규노동센터, 한국이주인권센터) / 이주민방송 MWTV / 이주여성인권센터 / 이주여성인권포럼 /이주인권연대(경산이주노동자센터, 경주이주노동자센터, 이주민과 함께, 아시아의 창, 안산이주민센터, 양산외국인노동자의 집, 울산이주민센터, 이주민노동인권센터, 이주와 인권연구소, 지구인의 정류장, 천안 모이세, 한국이주인권센터) / 인권운동공간 활 / 인권운동사랑방 / 인권중심사람 / 인천인권영화제 /
장애와인권발바닥행동 / 장애인차별금지추진연대 / 전국장애인차별철폐연대 / 전북평화와인권연대 /제주평화인권연구소 왓 / 진보네트워크센터 / 참여연대 /팔레스타인평화연대 / 한국게이인권운동단체 친구사이 / 한국이주여성인권센터 /한국이주인권센터 / 헬프시리아
Letter from Mr. Abdulrahman Zaid, a Participant in the Sit-in
*Translation: Migration to Asia Peace
To Whom It May Concern,
Hello.
I am Abdulrahman Zaid, an activist of the Egyptian revolution. I was arrested during a protest in Egypt, the Egyptian media discriminated against me because of my father’s origin, and in the end I was wrongly sentenced to five years in prison. Because I was threatened for my political views and background, and because I could lose my Egyptian nationality at any time, I had to escape Egypt. I finally came to Korea to seek asylum, because Korea is one of the signatory states of the Refugee Convention. However, I have spent almost two years and five months here and have still not been recognized as a refugee.
I have submitted a great deal of evidence in the meantime, such as documents, reports, videos, and newspaper articles, but in the end the immigration office rejected me, as usual, for very trivial, absurd, and unethical reasons. I filed an appeal against the decision rejecting my refugee status, but for more than one year and two months the Ministry of Justice has not given any answer. In fact, the immigration office continues to fabricate and to waste our lives, and it rejects genuine refugee applications for every absurd reason you can imagine. Sometimes it even hides some of the evidence, and in the end it has committed the crime of forgery in more than 100 refugee interviews. During roughly two years and five months of waiting, I contacted the immigration office many times to ask for a decision, and I also protested in front of the refugee department office, but there was no response.
In the end I had no other choice, and I have now begun a public hunger strike in front of the Blue House. I am not asking for any special treatment or exception. I am only asking that my rights be protected in accordance with Korean law and the international conventions that Korea has signed. I only hope that the Ministry of Justice of Korea will obey the laws of Korea. No Korean citizen who is proud of their country would tolerate a situation in which the government does not obey the law. And none of the Korean citizens would think that we enjoy our suffering. We are simply activists who demanded freedom in our homeland, Egypt, and we are being oppressed, killed, and imprisoned. Like me, some of us have been able to flee for safety. I fled because my mother begged me not to be sentenced to prison or killed, saying that otherwise she would die of grief over me. Our lives and safety matter greatly to our families. Living safely in peace is all we want. Is this too much to ask?
Through this hunger strike, my colleagues and I make the following requests to the Korean authorities.
First, carry out the recognition examination procedure for all asylum seekers promptly, “professionally and fairly,” and respond immediately to the refugee applications of me, my colleague Anas, and his spouse, whose decisions have been delayed for more than two years.
Second, conduct a thorough investigation into the Ministry of Justice, which has systematically distorted the great majority of genuine refugee applications.
Third, stop the insults and contempt toward all refugees and treat us as human beings. And apologize for the abuse that has been inflicted on us until now.
19 August 2018, in front of the Blue House of the Republic of Korea
Sincerely,
Abdulrahman Zaid