South Korea was elected as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council last month. Let us look at the statement from civil society and the pledges that South Korea made during its campaign, with a particular focus on the rights of migrants and refugees.
[Statement]
The government must fully implement the pledges it made while running for the United Nations Human Rights Council
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On 9 October, South Korea was elected as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2025-2027 term during the United Nations General Assembly. The Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental body established to protect and promote human rights, and it is one of the three main pillars of the United Nations. It reviews the human rights situations of all United Nations 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 United Nations General Assembly on 28 June. The six-page document sets out the government’s commitment to protect and promote 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 the international human rights treaties that it has not yet signed and to work toward ratifying the treaties that it has delayed
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United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/251, which established the Human Rights Council, provides that when member states are elected, the following must be considered: (1) the extent of the candidate state’s efforts to protect and promote human rights, and (2) the voluntary pledges made by the candidate state to that end. On the basis of these pledges, South Korea, as a newly elected member of the Human Rights Council, bears the responsibility of fulfilling the commitments it made to the international community
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Among the main pledges that South Korea made for its candidacy to the Human Rights Council is to provide official development assistance to help share the burden and responsibilities borne by countries that host refugees
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This is an important document that sets out the direction of South Korea’s human rights policies for the international community and commits to fulfilling these pledges at the national level. However, the government has not disclosed its contents domestically. Moreover, no attempt was made to work with domestic human rights organizations or civil society organizations while drafting the pledges on human rights policy
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As a result, the document describes South Korea as if it had no human rights problems, and it fails to include the pledges needed 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 be able to call confidently on other member states to improve their human rights as a member of the Human Rights Council, it must first work actively to bring its own human rights situation in line 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 human rights situation in the country. If a member of the Human Rights Council does not respect international human rights standards, why would other states take its recommendations seriously?
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We call on the South Korean government to translate and publicly share the voluntary pledges it made while running for the Human Rights Council, and to ensure full compliance with these pledges. Furthermore, the government must ensure the participation of civil society in the processes of developing human rights pledges, implementing them, monitoring progress, and evaluating results. 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 to show a commitment to actively improving the domestic human rights situation
2024. 11. 28. This statement was endorsed by civil society organizations and individuals in South Korea
D. Rights of migrants and refugees
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The Republic of Korea has contributed to global efforts for refugees since it acceded to the UNHCR in 2000. In 2016, it joined the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ “Club of 20 Million,” “an informal group of donors who contribute more than 20 million dollars annually” to the organization
Furthermore, in close partnership with the International Organization for Migration, the Republic of Korea has held its periodic four-year membership in the Bureau of the IOM Council since the 113th session (2022) and has taken on a coordinating role within the IOM Asia-Pacific group
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The Republic of Korea began its pilot resettlement programme for refugees in 2015 with an annual maximum of 30 refugees, and increased the maximum to 60 in 2017, in an effort to share the burden and responsibility in addressing global refugee issues
In addition, the Republic of Korea is implementing the Fourth Basic Plan for Immigration Policy and the Fourth Basic Plan for Multicultural Families Policy for 2023-2027
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After joining the Global Compact on Refugees in 2018, the Republic of Korea faithfully carried out the pledges it 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 UNHCR can respond efficiently 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 dollars in 2023 to 18 million dollars in 2024, and will seek to ensure that at least 30 percent of its annual humanitarian contributions to UNHCR are unearmarked, or that at least 50 percent of the funding is flexible.
In addition, the Republic of Korea will continue to provide
official development assistance to refugee-hosting countries to share the burden and responsibility. The Republic of Korea will also promote the humanitarian-development-peace nexus approach in its multi-year projects supporting refugees
in order to help address protracted 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.