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The war between Ukraine and Russia is becoming prolonged. War forces human beings to kill. Contrary to what Russia originally expected, as the war dragged on, it issued a mobilization order on September 21 to send 300,000 people to the battlefield, and people from ethnic minorities and vulnerable groups are being conscripted in a discriminatory way and dragged to the front. The Russian authorities recently stated that the mobilization had ended successfully, but cases of people being dragged to the front continue to be reported, and, naturally, not a few people are refusing to comply with conscription. Some of them have left their country and are wandering the world. They have become refugees on the ground of so-called refusal of military service.
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They refused to kill and refused to take part in the war. War is nothing more than an arena of international political rivalry, and those who refused to become instruments of killing left the battlefield and became refugees. However, the Korean Ministry of Justice dismissed this as “not even eligible to be screened” and has in effect left them in the departure waiting room inside the duty-free zone of the airport. They suffer from the anti-human-rights words and actions of staff, are blocked from medical care, cannot retrieve their suitcases and so cannot change their clothes, and complain of suffering under treatment that robs them of human dignity. Legitimate refugees who refused conscription in opposition to the war are being locked up at the Korean border and are spending their time filled with humiliation and inhumane treatment.
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Korea is not far from this brutal war. The case of Russian refugees who fled by yacht across the East Sea to avoid forced conscription has become known, and the media have since reported the case of Russian conscientious objector refugees who were denied the opportunity for refugee status determination at the airport and have been living for months on bread, juice and in-flight meals. The health of those who sought help from Korean courts and filed suit has worsened considerably, and the Korean government appears to be tacitly hoping that they will return home voluntarily and quietly. If they return to Russia, they are likely to be imprisoned or forcibly conscripted, and some of them have already taken part in anti-government rallies in Russia and are at risk of state violence.
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They are political refugees who are persecuted because they refused to take part in the war. Those who have applied for refugee status to escape political and religious persecution in their home country have the right to be protected under international law, and depriving them of the opportunity for refugee status determination is refoulement at the border, which the Refugee Convention prohibits. Detaining people at an airport and pushing them out is just as unlawful as pushing refugees back in the Mediterranean and at the US-Mexico border. Korea takes pride in having enacted Asia’s first independent refugee act and sees itself as an advanced democracy that guarantees human rights, yet out of sight it is turning against refugees who opposed the war in this way.
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The Korean government is also a state that recognizes the right to conscientious objection to military service. Of course, the law that sets out the right to refuse military service applies to Korean nationals. However, the process by which the right to refuse military service was introduced in the international community as a universal human right was driven by the spread of the recognition that, together with protecting the individual right to freedom of conscience, resisting the unjust use of force is a common duty of world citizens. The reason they became refugees is that they exercised their duty as world citizens against the war crimes that humankind has repeatedly committed.
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Russian conscientious objectors suffer discrimination, imprisonment and violence because of their refusal of military service. The Russian conscientious objectors currently staying at the airport are people who fled to escape such persecution, and no one should be persecuted for exercising freedom of conscience. The Korean government must immediately stop the inhumane treatment of Russian refugees, disclose the cases of return that it has kept hidden until now, admit them promptly into the country, give them the opportunity for refugee status determination, and confirm their refugee status, thereby providing a safe haven to people at serious risk of persecution.
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Accordingly, we submit a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and make the following demands to the authorities.
First, the Minister of Justice must withdraw the unlawful screening standard that brands Russian refugees who fled in opposition to the war after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as mere draft evaders, sanctifies military service, and at the same time condemns the political right to oppose Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Second, the Minister of Justice must immediately stop the refoulement at the border aimed at deterring Russian refugee applicants, and must immediately disclose the cases of direct and indirect return to date.
Third, the Minister of Justice must withdraw the decision not to refer the cases for screening for the refugees currently being held, and must immediately provide medical support and the treatment due under the Refugee Act.
Fourth, regarding the inhumane treatment that took place in the departure waiting room, the Minister of Justice must institutionalize the bringing in of items such as food and clothing, access to medical care, and access to personal belongings, and must stop operating the departure waiting rooms at Terminal 2 of Incheon Airport and at regional airports such as Jeju Airport as detention facilities.
Fifth, the Minister of Justice must immediately stop the insulting words and actions of the departure waiting room staff and the related local immigration officials, and must carry out human rights education on the rights of refugees.
Sixth, to prevent a recurrence of such arbitrariness, the National Assembly must establish a special provision enabling swift hearings and decisions in airport refugee cases in accordance with the Habeas Corpus Act.
December 30, 2022
Organized by: (provisional name) Korean Civil Society Organizations Defending the Human Rights and Peace of Russian Refugees Who Refuse Conscription
건강권실현을위한보건의료단체연합(건강권실현을위한행동하는간호사회, 건강사회를위한약사회, 건강사회를위한치과의사회, 노동건강연대, 다른세상을향한연대, 인도주의실천의사협의회, 참의료실현청년한의사회), 경동건설 고 정순규 유가족, 국제민주연대, 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, 마감마녀(실비아페데리치 번역모임), 민주사회를 위한 변호사모임 국제연대위원회, 서울온드림교육센터, 수원글로벌드림센터, 순천이주민지원센터, 아시아의 친구들, 아시아평화를향한이주MAP, 외국인이주노동자 인권을 위한 모임, 이주여성을위한문화경제공동체 에코팜므,이주민지원공익센터 감동, 이주민지원센터친구, 천주교 의정부교구 이주사목위원회, 천주교 제주교구 이주사목센터 나오미, 재단법인 동천, 재단법인 화우 공익재단, 제주평화인권연구소 왓, 참여연대, 한국이주인권센터], 사회진보연대, 외국인보호소폐지를위한물결 International Waters31, 외국인이주노동운동협의회(남양주시외국인복지센터, 모두를위한이주인권문화센터, 부천이주노동복지센터, 서울외국인노동자센터, 순천이주민지원센터, 아산이주노동자센터, 아시아인권문화연대, 외국인이주노동자인권을위한모임, 원불교서울외국인센터, 의정부EXODUS, 이주민센터동행, 인천외국인노동자센터, 파주샬롬의집, 포천나눔의집이주민지원센터, (사)한국이주민건강협회희망의친구들, (사)한국이주여성인권센터, 한삶의집, 함께하는공동체), 우크라이나의 평화를 기원하는 광주모임(5·18기념재단, 공공운수노조 광주전남지부, 광주고려인마을, 광주기독교협의회 NCC 인권위원회, 광주경제정의실천시민연합, 광주녹색당, 광주전남학생행진, 광주인권지기 활짝, 광주지역연합사회과학학회 알다, 광주청년유니온, 광주환경운동연합, 광주 YMCA, 광주 YWCA, 광주 민중의 집, 민족미술인협회광주지회, 민주노총 법률원 광주사무소, 민주사회를 위한 변호사모임 광주전남지부, 사회진보연대 광주전남지부, 오월어머니집, 전남대학교 용봉편집위원회, 정의당 광주광역시당, 참여자치 21, 한국비정규교수노동조합 전남대분회, 금속노조 광주전남지부 총 24개 단체), 이주노동자평등연대(건강권 실현을 위한 보건의료단체연합(건강권 실현을 위한 행동하는 간호사회, 건강사회를 위한 약사회, 건강사회를 위한 치과의사회, 노동건강연대, 인도주의실천의사협의회, 참의료실현청년한의사회), 공공운수노조사회복지지부 이주여성조합원모임, 노동당, 노동사회과학연구소, 노동전선, 녹색당, 대한불교조계종사회노동위원회, 성공회 용산나눔의집, 민변노동위원회, 사회진보연대, 이주노동자노동조합(MTU), (사)이주노동희망센터, 이주노동자운동후원회, 이주민센터 친구, 전국민주노동조합총연맹, 전국불안정노동철폐연대, 전국학생행진, 지구인의정류장, 천주교인권위원회, 필리핀공동체카사마코, 한국비정규노동센터),이주구금을 반대하는 제주연대자들의 모임,인권운동네트워크 바람, 재한 러시아인들의 반전단체 Voices In Korea, , 전남대학교 용봉편집위원회, 징병문제연구소 ‘더나은헌신’, 참여연대, 청년김대중재단, 페미니스트 반전 저항의 한국 모임, 프로그레시브 코리아, 플랫폼c, 피스모모, 피스모모 평화페미니즘연구소(FIPS), 한베평화재단, 화성외국인보호소방문 시민모임 <마중>, RSOA(아시아위의붉은별)
