Immigration Officials Shall Observe Due Process and Human Rights Standards in Regulating Undocumented Migrants
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) decided that there was a violation of human rights by immigration control officials when they were trying to arrest a Korean citizen, misjudging her as an undocumented immigrant. The NHRCK recommended the local Immigration Office warn the officials and train them properly, the officials compensate for the complainant’s medical expenses and mental distress.
Ms. K, a 30-year old Korean citizen filed a complaint to the NHRCK on June 2009, claiming that she was assaulted unreasonably while she was buying groceries at the market. She was hospitalized due to physical and mental damage after the coercive action.
She claimed that two men approached her speaking a foreign language, and she tried to avoid them, thinking that they were harassing her. Then three men followed her grabbing her arms and sleeves and one of them knocked her down, embracing her. According to the complainant, the men (respondents) did not wear or show any certificate indicating their authority and did not even apologize appropriately after knowing that Ms. K was Korean.
The immigration officials responded that they saw the complainant who had a foreign appearance and spoke to her in English and Korean, asking to present her identification card. When the complainant was trying to run away, they grabbed her in the arm but they did not embrace her. The complainant showed her identification card after a passerby told her to do so. The respondents claimed that they apologized to the complainant and the passerby.
According to the investigation of the NHRCK, Mr. J who witnessed the incident stated that the respondents asked, only in English language, the complainant to show her identification card, saying “Excuse me, immigration,” and the complainant was puzzled and tried to avoid them. The respondents grabbed her in the arms and suppressed her to arrest, thinking that she was running away from them. As passersby gathered around and Mr. J asked them for their identification, the respondents answered that they were police officers showing their certificate, which was too quick to verify. When the complainant asked them to apologize after she was proved to be a Korean citizen, they said that they were not willing to apologize, because it was a legal procedure of control.
The CCTV recording also backs up the statement of the witness, as the respondents were showing the certificate, but in a very quick and short movement.
The NHRCK viewed that considering that complainant was a homemaker, it would have been hard for her to quickly perceive the situation and provide her identity information to the two unidentified men, who were chasing her speaking in English when she was buying groceries at the market.
The complainant thought the men were foreigners who were trying to kidnap her, and she received a two-week medical treatment for bruise and sprain and another four-week treatment for depression and anxiety.
Article 82 of the Immigration Control Act stipulates that immigration official shall carry himself a certificate indicating his authority, and show it to any interested person when he carries out his duties.
The NHRCK viewed that the respondents violated the Immigration Control Act and physical integrity and rights of the complainant by conducting excessive control without showing the certificate and notifying her that they were carrying out their duties. In addition, the coercive control in a public place made the complainant feel humiliated and thus receive medical treatment.
Therefore, the NHRCK recommended that the Immigration Office warn the respondents in order to prevent a recurrence and the respondents compensate the complainant for her physical damage and mental distress.
