South Korea was elected as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council last month. Let’s take a look at the statement from civil society and the pledges South Korea submitted during its campaign for election, particularly focusing on the rights of migrants and refugees.
[Statement] The government must fully implement the pledges made during its candidacy for the U.N. Human Rights Council
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On October 9, South Korea was elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Council for the 2025-2027 term during the UN General Assembly. The Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental body established to protect and promote human rights, one of the three main pillars of the UN. It reviews the human rights situations of all UN member states and addresses serious human rights violations.
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In preparation for the Human Rights Council election, the government submitted voluntary pledges and commitments to the UN General Assembly on June 28. The six-page document outlines the government’s commitment to protecting and promoting human rights. It includes measures to improve human rights domestically in areas such as women’s rights, children’s rights, disability rights, and the rights of migrants and refugees. The government also pledged to join international human rights treaties it has not yet signed and to work on ratifying treaties it has delayed.
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UN General Assembly Resolution 60/251, which established the Human Rights Council, states that when electing member states, consideration must be given to: (1) the extent of the candidate state’s efforts to protect and promote human rights, and (2) the candidate state’s voluntary pledges to this end. Therefore, based on these pledges, South Korea, as a newly elected member of the Human Rights Council, has a responsibility to faithfully uphold the commitments it has made to the international community.
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One of South Korea’s key pledges for its candidacy to the Human Rights Council includes providing official development assistance (ODA) to help share the burden and responsibilities of countries hosting refugees.
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This is an important document that outlines the direction of South Korea’s human rights policies to the international community and commits to fulfilling these pledges at the national level. However, the government has not disclosed its contents domestically. Furthermore, it made no attempt to engage with domestic human rights or civil society organizations while drafting the pledges related to human rights policies.
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As a result, the document describes South Korea as if it has no human rights issues, and it fails to include pledges necessary to improve the actual human rights situation. For example, South Korea interprets and applies the Refugee Convention arbitrarily, resulting in an annual refugee recognition rate of only about 1%. However, the document does not address any plans to change this situation.
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For South Korea to confidently call on other member states to improve their human rights as a member of the Human Rights Council, it must first actively work to align its own human rights situation with international human rights standards. However, the South Korean government has shown little respect for the recommendations and decisions of international human rights bodies aimed at improving the country’s human rights situation. If a Human Rights Council member does not respect international human rights norms itself, why would other countries take its recommendations seriously?
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We call on the South Korean government to translate and publicly share the voluntary pledges it submitted during its Human Rights Council candidacy and to ensure these pledges are fully upheld. Furthermore, the government must guarantee the participation of civil society in the processes of developing human rights-related pledges, implementing them, monitoring progress, and evaluating outcomes. As a newly elected member of the Human Rights Council, we urge the government to respect the recommendations and decisions of international human rights bodies and demonstrate a commitment to actively improving the domestic human rights situation.
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The statement is endorsed by South Korean Civil Society Organizations(CSO) and Individuals
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The Republic of Korea has contributed to the global efforts for refugee protection since it joined UNHCR in 2000. In 2016, it joined the UNHCR “20+ million club”, an informal group of donors who contribute more than $20 million annually to the organization. Moreover, in close partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Republic of Korea entered into its four-year rotating membership of the IOM Council Bureau starting from the 113th session (2022) and took on a coordinating role within the IOM Asia-Pacific group.
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The Republic of Korea began its pilot refugee resettlement programme in 2015 with an annual ceiling of 30 refugees and increased the ceiling to 60 in 2017 in an effort to share the burden and responsibility in addressing global refugee issues. In addition, the Republic of Korea has been carrying out the fourth basic plan for immigration policy and the fourth basic plan for multicultural family policy for 2023 – 2027.
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After joining the Global Compact on Refugees in 2018, the Republic of Korea faithfully implemented its pledges made at the first Global Refugee Forum, in 2019, and announced new pledges at the second forum. The Republic of Korea will increase its unearmarked contributions to UNHCR so that the Office can efficiently respond to emergencies and continue its support for neglected refugee crises. The Republic of Korea has more than quadrupled its unearmarked funding, from $3.8 million in 2023 to $18 million in 2024, and will seek to ensure that at least 30 percent of its annual humanitarian contributions toward UNHCR is unearmarked, or that at least 50 percent is flexible funding. In addition, the Republic of Korea will continue to provide official development assistance for refugee-hosting countries to share the burden and responsibility. The Republic of Korea will also strengthen the humanitarian, development and peace nexus approach in its multi-year projects for refugee support in order to help address prolonged refugee crises.
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The Republic of Korea is implementing its pledges on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration announced at the first International Migration Review Forum, in 2022.