Since the outbreak of COVID-19, migrants including migrant workers have experienced discrimination and exclusion in the mask distribution policy, and the same in the distribution of disaster relief payments. In addition, the administrative orders for COVID-19 testing issued by local governments targeting only foreigners did nothing but fuel hatred of migrant workers, regardless of any effect on disease control. The discrimination against migrants in COVID-19 vaccination still continues and may go on, and migrant rights organizations cannot help but be concerned.
According to the COVID-19 Vaccination Task Force, as of 0:00 on June 20, 15,012,455 people (29.2%) had completed the first dose and 4,046,611 people (7.9%) had completed the second dose. The vaccination rate among clinic and pharmacy workers, whom the government classified as a priority group, reached 72.5%, exceeding the 70% herd immunity rate set by the government, and the government has begun to discuss a return to everyday life in earnest. Amid these discussions, however, unrealistic disease control measures still abound for the vulnerable groups at risk of infection who are institutionally excluded.
In particular, on the 20th the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced a revision of the social distancing scheme, designating workplaces vulnerable to infection, such as workplaces with a high concentration of migrant workers, as priority-management workplaces and having local governments arrange PCR tests for them. We cannot help but be concerned that this may repeat the discriminatory administrative orders that singled out “foreign nationals” for diagnostic testing. Moreover, the management guidelines that describe workplaces with many migrant workers as communal living spaces with a high risk of mass infection are unrealistic and discriminatory. The guidelines recommend minimizing the number of people using dormitories, keeping distance between beds and assigning occupants accordingly, and, where this is not possible, periodic PCR tests at least once a month. Guidelines that do not reflect the housing reality, in which migrant workers made up 80% of last year’s flood victims and in which a migrant worker died in a vinyl greenhouse last winter, are likely to remain a formality. It would be more realistic instead to present ways for migrant workers at vulnerable workplaces to respond proactively, for example by distributing self-test kits. Accordingly, migrant rights organizations, drawing on their counseling work so far, anticipate the problems that may arise when people in their 20s to 40s become eligible for vaccination and urge the quarantine authorities to take preventive measures in advance.
Provide accurate information: guide vaccination in each country’s language
Neither the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters nor the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) provides information in any foreign language other than English. Migrant workers depend on partial information from support organizations and others.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States provides COVID-19 vaccination information in 65 languages, and the Australian Department of Health in 63 languages, doing their utmost so that foreigners in their countries do not face difficulties because of language. At a minimum, the languages of the 16 countries from which workers enter under the Employment Permit System (EPS) should be covered as a basis, and more varied country-specific language support is needed. A Q & A for migrants and medical questionnaires in each language should be prepared in advance. The vaccination reservation website should also be accessible in multiple languages.
A designated officer for migrant vaccination is needed
The quarantine authorities say that foreign migrants can be vaccinated through the same procedure as Korean nationals, but preparation for vaccinating foreign migrants has been so neglected that the information about migrant workers differs even between the local government civil complaint call centers and the vaccination task force staff at public health centers. Dedicated staff must be designated.
- (Case) A migrant aged 60 or over who was eligible for vaccination had poor Korean, and an interpreter tried to accompany the person, but the public health center refused.
- (Case) A civil complaint call center advised that an undocumented migrant worker aged 60 or over could receive a management number at the public health center, but the person in charge of the vaccination task force at the public health center said that reservations were over and even refused to issue in advance a management number for a later reservation. (June 21)
- (Case) A migrant who had received a one-year departure grace period on a short-term visa left the country, wished to re-enter, and inquired about vaccination, but the public health center in charge could not confirm whether the person was eligible for a management number for remaining vaccine doses.
Mobile vaccination, shuttle operation, and a mandatory day off for vaccination are needed
Migrant workers find it difficult to leave their workplaces for vaccination without the employer’s consent. In particular, migrant workers in rural areas have only two Saturdays off per month, so vaccination on weekdays is impossible unless the employer allows it. Seafarers and workers on remote islands face the same problem of access.
Migrant workers cannot even imagine resting after vaccination or responding to symptoms such as fever. Employers should be given benefits for vaccination or be required to grant a day off for vaccination. To raise vaccination rates, mobile vaccination using the facilities of support organizations, and mobile vaccination or shuttle operation for residents of farming and fishing villages, are needed.
Measures to raise the vaccination rate of undocumented migrants
Undocumented migrants, who number close to 400,000, are one in five foreign residents. Undocumented people cannot authenticate their identity through a mobile phone (even registered residents have difficulty with identity authentication) and can make a reservation only after receiving a management number at a public health center. However, because of their undocumented status they are extremely reluctant to reveal their identity and cannot move around freely, so a different way of issuing management numbers and making vaccination reservations is needed.
For undocumented people who cannot even imagine applying for remaining doses and are restricted even from vaccination according to the schedule, (proxy) reservation and vaccination through support organizations and others that are easy for them to reach must be made possible.
Activists excluded even though they work in facilities used by many people
The contradiction that activists of support organizations are excluded from priority vaccination, even though they work with migrant workers classified as a vulnerable group and in facilities used by many people, must be corrected.
In the United States, a presidential executive order set up a COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, composed of the Secretary of Health and Human Services and private experts, to respond to COVID-19 and support recovery for socially vulnerable groups (by race, ethnicity, sex, gender, poverty, rural and isolated areas, and so on), supporting 1) the allocation of resources in light of the unequal impact of COVID-19, 2) the allocation of funds to realize equality, and 3) effective and culturally appropriate communication and contact with vulnerable groups. In contrast, the Republic of Korea calls migrant workers a group vulnerable to infection but does not even think of resolving the problems of information inequality and access to health care. Such discrimination will create blind spots in disease control and threaten the stability of the community.
The quarantine authorities should recognize that the health of migrants is the health of the community and make every preparation so that no discrimination, alienation or exclusion occurs in vaccination. Migrant rights organizations will watch whether these demands are met and urge the quarantine authorities to act immediately.
June 22, 2021
(사)이주민과함께, 난민인권센터, 두레방, 성요셉노동자의집, 공익법센터 어필, 이주민센터 친구, 이주민지원공익센터 감동, 이주와 인권연구소, 한국이주여성인권센터, 국제이주문화연구소, 난민인권네트워크, 아시아의 창, 情만천하이주여성협회, 모두우리네트워크
이주노동자 인권·노동권 실현을 위한 대구경북연대회의 (성서공단노조, 대구이주민선교센터, 이주와가치, 북부이주노동자센터, 민주노총대구지역본부, 민주노총경북지역본부, 민중행동, 대구사람장애인자립지원센터, (사)장애인지역공동체, 경산장애인자립센터, 인권운동연대, 대경인도주의실천의사협의회, 민주사회를위한변호사모임, 땅과자유, 지구별동무, 무지개인권연대, 녹색당대구시당, 노동당대구시당, 노동당경북도당, 정의당대구시당, 진보당대구시당)
이주노동자평등연대 (건강권 실현을 위한 보건의료단체연합 (건강권 실현을 위한 행동하는 간호사회, 건강사회를 위한 약사회, 건강사회를 위한 치과의사회, 노동건강연대, 인도주의실천의사협의회, 참의료실현청년한의사회) , 노동당, 노동사회과학연구소, 노동전선, 녹색당, 대한불교조계종사회노동위원회, 성공회 용산나눔의집, 민변노동위원회, 사회변혁노동자당, 사회진보연대, 이주노동자노동조합(MTU), (사)이주노동희망센터, 이주노동자운동후원회, 이주민방송(MWTV), 이주민센터 친구, 전국민주노동조합총연맹, 전국불안정노동철폐연대, 전국학생행진, 지구인의정류장, 필리핀공동체카사마코)
외국인이주노동운동협의회((사)모두를 위한 이주인권문화센터, 아산이주노동자센터, 부천이주노동복지센터, 인천외국인노동자센터, (사)한국이주민건강협회 희망의친구들, 남양주시외국인복지센터, 성공회파주이주노동자센터 샬롬의집, 포천나눔의집, 서울외국인노동자센터, 아시아인권문화연대, 순천이주민지원센터, 외국인이주노동자인권을위한모임, 의정부EXODUS, (사)함께 하는 공동체, (사)한국이주여성인권센터, 원불교 서울외국인센터, 한삶의집, 이주민센터 동행)