MFA Statement
From: "Migrant Forum in Asia" <mfa@pacific.net.hk>
Date: Nov 28, 2008 06:29 PM
To: <mfa-network@list.jca.apc.org>
Subject: [mfa-network 3304] MFA Calls for Release of 100 Unlawfully Arrested
MWs in Korea
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Manila. I hope all is well with you.
I am writing to forward to you the MFA statement concerning the recent arrests of migrant workers in Namyangju City, Gyounggi-Do, Korea. Korean immigration and police raided the Masok Factory Complex and force their way into migrant homes in the surrounding areas. MFA sources have reported that at least 100 migrant workers were indiscriminately arrested without any attempt by police to determine their immigration status.
Background to the incident can be found in the following websites:
- South Korea: Migrant Workers are Human Being, Amnesty International, August 2006 http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA25/007/2006/en/dom-ASA250072006en.html
- Human Rights Watch World Report, South Korea, January 2007 http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/category,COI,HRW,,KOR,45aca2a61e,0.html
Please find attached the full text of the MFA statement concerning the issue. We would appreciate if you can forward this statement to your networks and the Korean embassy in your country.
Courage, Peace and Power in a life full of meaning.
William Gois
Regional Coordinator
MFA Calls for Release of 100 Unlawfully Arrested Migrant Workers in Korea
28 November 2008
The year 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Korea and its signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To commemorate these landmark events, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea convened an international conference on rights of migrants (November 10-12, 2008) in Gyeonggi province, which claims itself as the new centre of multiculturalism.
At the same time, just about 20 km from the conference venue, Korean immigration officials and police were forcing their way into the personal homes, dormitories and housing units of the Masok Factory Complex where thousands of migrants work. In fear, many workers ran for safety only to be met with a blockade of security forces in riot buses which encircled the industrial complex. Without identifying themselves, the police force arrested more than 100 migrant workers including the mother who was separated from her four-year-old child and a Nepalese worker who is in a de facto marriage with a Korean citizen. Several individuals were injured in their attempted escape and numerous workers were handcuffed as well as verbally and
physically abused. Korea-based Migrants Trade Union (MTU) and Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea (JCMK) both have reported that medical treatment was refused to those that sustain injuries.
Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) is deeply disturbed by the Korean government's indiscriminate, racially targeted attack on the migrant communities in Masok (Namyangju City, Gyeonggi-Do, Korea). The Government's aggressive move to criminalize workers is inhumane and a gross disregard for the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all peoples guaranteed by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
Following the raid, the Korean Ministry of Justice issued a statement justifying the act as necessary to maintain order in the Masok area which the Ministry described as "slums free of public order and [as] the hotbed of crimes committed by foreigners" (JCMK Press Release, 24 November 2008).
Korea intends to legislate this state of terror by handing over new powers to police and security forces including authority to search one's home or person and to arrest without any warrant (Amnesty, 2007). Even as the government touts itself as a champion of "a culture of understanding and tolerance", it is working to strip migrants of their most basic rights.
The Seoul High Court has affirmed that the right to join trade unions, as recognized in the Korean constitution, also applies to migrant workers including irregular migrants. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which Korea has ratified, also provides for the right to organize and join unions. Nonetheless migrant trade unionists are regularly harassed by police and security officials. Korea's Ministry of Labour is also attempting appeal migrant workers' right to organize.
Korea was among the first countries in Asia to enact protections for the rights of migrant workers in the Act Concerning the Employment Permit for Migrant Workers (EPS Act) in August 2003. Yet five years later, the report of abuses against migrant workers are mounting. Unpaid wages, long working hours without rest or overtime pay, discrimination, sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace, non-compensation in cases of industrial accidents and absence of redress mechanism fill the long list of violations (Amnesty International, 2006).
Reports of beatings, verbal attacks and intimidation by law enforcement is not without precedent. In June 2003, Amnesty International (2003) released report on the mistreatment and abuse when two thousand migrant workers were arrested and many subsequently deported. In September 2003, thirteen migrant workers were taken from their homes in the middle of the night to the Namyang-ju police station. By October 2005, the number of deportations of undocumented migrant workers had totaled more than 30,000.
MFA calls on the Korean government to recognize that all migrant workers have rights, regardless of their immigration status. We urge the Government to apologize for these blatant rights violations and to release the arrested migrant workers. The unlawful and violent crackdowns against migrant workers must stop.
MFA appeals to the Government of Korea to clearly demonstrate its support for the security and protection of its "global family members" by undertaking a full investigation into the allegations of rights violations in the Masok raid and also ratifying the Convention on the Promotion of Equality of Opportunity and Treatment of Migrant Workers (ILO Conventions 97 and 143). We call on the Government to respect its international human rights commitments, especially the Universal Declaration on Human Rights which guarantees the rights of all without distinction on the basis of national origin, birth or other status.
MFA is a regional network of non-government organizations (NGOs), associations and trade unions of migrant workers, and individual advocates in Asia that are committed to protect and promote the rights and welfare of migrant workers. It is guided by a vision of an alternative world system based on respect for human rights and dignity, social justice, and gender equity, particularly for migrant workers.
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Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)
59 B Malumanay St. Teachers' Village,
Diliman, Quezon City 1104 Philippines
Tel no: +632-4333508
Fax no: +632-4331292
Mobile: +63917-5267171
E-mail: mfa@pacific.net.hk
Website: www.mfasia.org
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