[Korea Refugee Rights Network Statement] The Ministry of Justice Must Respond to the Cries of Refugee Families on the 17th Day of Their Outdoor Sit-In
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Since July 6, a number of refugees of Egyptian nationality have pitched tents in front of the Government Complex Gwacheon and begun a sit-in. They are refugees who fled human rights violations suffered for resisting a military coup and fighting for justice, who seek rightful protection from the Korean government, and who need serious examination. They began the sit-in with nowhere left to retreat, as the Korean government has been rejecting them through years of unjust examination delays and non-response, and through racial discrimination in the process of extending their period of stay.
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Who made refugee families lie down in tents and on the street, even in midday heat of nearly 40 degrees and in rain that sometimes lasted all night? Who made them face human rights violations again in Korea, where they had come to escape human rights violations? It is none other than the Korean government. Examination delays of one to four years, repeated for reasons unknown, have meant to refugees the cold face and rejection of the Korean government, and have made them keep living an unstable future even though they have no option to leave. All of them drift through workplaces and schools and are gradually collapsing under a safe settlement that is postponed indefinitely.
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Although it has been turned into a matter of political dispute and consumed as such, it has recently become a public issue in Korean society that the forced return of refugees to places where there are “serious human rights violations” and “cruel treatment such as torture” is clearly prohibited by international human rights law. The forced return of refugees is a crime against human rights. At the same time, we, who defend the human rights of refugees and oppose discrimination, know well that in Korean society many refugees have already been driven invisibly to their deaths by direct and indirect forced return, and that this continues today.
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Examination delays that occurred amid a lack of examiners and infrastructure cannot be a legitimate reason to ask for understanding from refugees who requested protection from the government of the Republic of Korea. Continued examination delays for refugees who fled political persecution are in themselves a violation of the obligation of non-refoulement. Making people leave on their own after they grow tired of waiting avoids the responsibility of directly returning them by force, but it is no different from making them choose death by their own hand. Justice delayed is not justice, and for refugees an examination delay in itself means refusal of refugee status.
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There are countless cases in which people who flee under the same circumstances to another country are protected as refugees, but when they flee to Korea they are denied refugee status and face the threat of expulsion. Refugees know that although a refugee examination system exists, in practice it exists not to save refugees but to save the Korean government, to save face before the international community. Unjust examination results, and the racist condescension of officials encountered in the process of extending the period of stay, in themselves mean refusal of refugee status.
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Refugee families who continue to suffer harm from the Korean government’s human rights violations are making requests based on “justice” and seeking a response: a meeting with the Minister of Justice, who is the responsible minister, prompt refugee examination, and adherence to refugee examination standards that conform to international standards. The ones who must take action to correct the problem are not the refugee families who are the victims, but the Korean government, which is the perpetrator. Direct and indirect forced return is a matter of life and death for refugees, and unlawful forced return is in itself a crime against human rights. The Ministry of Justice must respond immediately to the voices of these refugee families, who carry on their shoulders the Korean government’s refugee rejection policy, which had festered inside and burst out and which everyone in fact knew about, and the voices of the many refugee victims it has caused.
2022.7. 22
난민인권네트워크 [TFC(The First Contact for Refugee) 공익법센터 어필, 공익변호사와 함께하는 동행, 공익사단법인 정, 공익인권법재단 공감, 공익인권센터 드림(DREAM), 국제난민지원단체 피난처, 글로벌호프, 난민인권센터, 동두천난민공동체, 동작FM, 민주사회를 위한 변호사모임 국제연대위원회,사단법인 두루, 서울온드림교육센터, 수원시글로벌청소년드림센터, 순천이주민지원센터, 아시아의 친구들, 아시아평화를향한이주MAP, 안산시글로벌청소년센터, 외국인 이주노동자 인권을 위한 모임, 이주여성을위한문화경제공동체 에코팜므,이주민지원공익센터 감동, 의정부 EXODUS, 이주민센터 친구, 천주교 제주교구 이주사목센터 나오미, 재단법인 동천, 재단법인 화우 공익재단, 제주평화인권연구소 왓, 참여연대, 파주 EXODUS, 한국이주인권센터]
