A/HRC/4/24/Add.2
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23.
The EPS programme does not apply to migrant workers employed for domestic services
and family reunification is not allowed. The family reunification for over 10,000 workers has
been a pending issue over years.
24.
According to the Ministry of Labour, all migrant workers are eligible to benefit from the
industrial accident compensation scheme. However the Special Rapporteur was told that migrant
workers are largely unaware of their rights and, according to information received, the employers
do not report work-related accidents as they have not taken the necessary measures to provide
insurance to their migrant workers. The reluctance from employers to comply with their
obligation to adopt safety environment at work, to insure their migrant employees and report
work-related accidents is linked to their fear of investigations by insurance companies and
adoption of safety measures which would affect their profitability.
25.
In August 2007, the three-year cycle of implementation of the EPS will come to an end
and the Government has committed itself to revise it in order to, inter alia, address the plight of
undocumented migrants. Many irregular migrant workers in RoK are hoping for legalization
under the new revision of the EPS Act in 2007, however, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the
Immigration Department are reportedly not favouring the regularization of undocumented
migrant workers.
B. Situation of undocumented migrant workers
26.
With the adoption of the EPS in August 2003, the Government set the regularization
process of undocumented migrant workers as follows:
Undocumented migrants who had been in the Republic of Korea as of March 2003:
•
For less than 3 years: eligible to sojourn status;
•
Between 3 years and 4 years: eligible for visa issuance certificate but must first leave
the country until 15 November (2003). After that they should return to the RoK
within three months to be employed legally;
•
For more than 4 years: no possibility to legalize their status and must leave the RoK
by 15 November (2003) or will be deported.
27.
Under the Immigration Control Act (ICA), immigration officers were given the authority
to search, detain irregular workers and issue deportation orders. The issue of detention orders by
immigration officers appears to bypass the constitutional provision requiring detention orders to
be issued by a judge. In June 2005, the National Human Rights Commission recommended that
the Ministry of Justice, under whom the immigration authorities work, revise the current
Immigration Law, arguing that ministry officials had been violating the basic rights of
undocumented migrants, including their right to liberty and security of person, during operations
by police and immigration officials.