Mr. Young-hoang Cho, the Chairperson of NHRCK announced the following statement to commemorate United Nation" s " World Refugee Day" .(June 20th)
Enhance Korea" s Refugee Policy to Global Standards !
Today is the UN" s " World Refugee Day" . On December 4, 2000, the United Nations General Assembly decided by a unanimous vote to establish June 20th of every year as " World Refugee Day" , remembering the significance of international refugee protection.
A refugee is a person seeking asylum in a foreign country and has been deserted by his or her home country or is someone who has never had a home country. Those who seek refugee status do it out of fear of persecution from mainstream influences. Those seeking international stays who are dispelled on account of various bias and discriminations are also refugees.
We cannot but acknowledge our responsibility to live along with these people from the perspective of humanity and " natural rights" . The UN" s " Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees" in 1951 and " Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees" in 1967 was the result of this cause, producing a particular duty to protect refugees.
The Republic of Korea is not an exception to this international responsibility. As a member of the global community, we have to comply with the international standards of refugee protection. The Korean government joined the " Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees" and " Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees" in 1992 since we could not turn away any longer from the reality that more than 140 countries all around the world joined the Convention and do their international duty for refugee protection.
Fourteen years after joining the Convention, I feel that we are still in an early stage of the commitment ahead. Not only have we recognized only 40 refugees till now, but there also remains much room to improve compared to international standards in terms of asylum procedures and social treatment to refugees. I am glad, though, that the Korean government is recently becoming interested in refugee matters and starting reforming related laws and regulations. It’s better-late-than-never.
Current the Korean government speaks about human rights more than ever, which brings about numerous international expectations. From now on, our government should be better positioned to actively fulfill its responsibility for human rights which it has promised to do toward the international community. We have to make those duties in the Convention practical ones to positively execute rather than considering them as formal duties on a document. That’s the starting point from which we should think about our refugee issues.
On " World Refugee Day" , I would like to emphasize once again that we should cast away intolerant nationalism that is likely to be found in our refugee policy and embrace forward-looking attitudes to renovate our system and realize an appropriate execution which could be appreciated globally. This is our fair and proper implementation of our duty as a member of Executive Board of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Our committee recently presented our comprehensive recommendations for human rights enhancement plan to the Korean government. I hope those ideas will be put into action as government policy in no time.
As an independent organization contributing to national human rights, we promise we will do our best with all authorities and functions endowed to us in helping the refugees in their human rights, again on this meaningful day.
June 20, 2006
Young-hoang Cho
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission of Republic of Korea
