2008.09.17
The NHRCK recommended that the Minister of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs improve Disability Registration System to provide foreign residents in Korea to register their disabilities.
The petitioner, Ms. WANG (female, 37 years old, Taiwanese) made an appeal to the NHRCK in October 2007, on the basis that foreigners with disabilities who reside in Korea are not able to register their disabilities or provided disability welfare benefits merely because they are not Korean nationals and it is discrimination against foreigners.
Regarding the purpose of welfare service for persons with disabilities which is ‘promoting social integration of the socially disadvantaged’, disability welfare service should be applied based on regular residency in terms of social integration rather than their nationalities.
The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs is not willing to allow foreigners to register disability due to public aid burden and managerial difficulties. However, the Commission confirmed that even if foreigners register their disabilities, it does not necessarily mean that they are recipients of public aid and they are required to be screened through a qualification process, thus, the Ministry’s claim is not persuasive.
The Commission concluded that foreigners with disabilities who stay in Korea for a certain period of time also should be provided social welfare service, considering social participation of the persons with disabilities and promotion of human rights, as far as the service for them does not require excessive budget or management procedures.
The Commission recommended to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs to improve disability registration system to allow foreigners who reside in Korea to register their disabilities because disability registration regardless of nationalities corresponds with legal basis of the Constitution, international standard regarding persons with disabilities and recently implemented ‘Anti-Discrimination Against and Remedies for Persons with Disabilities Act’.
