By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
A human rights body Tuesday said the bill for the revision of the Illegal Immigrants Law is still insufficient to protect their human rights. It plans to make suggestions to the Ministry of Justice for necessary countermeasures.
``The ministry has been making an effort to improve the situation for illegal immigrants here,'' Kim Min-tae, an official at National Human Rights Commission of Korea, said. ``But many important issues are neglected in the bill.''
With increasing concern over the violation of the human rights of illegal immigrants, the ministry formed a special team in 2005 to tackle the issues on illegal immigrants and refugees.
In 2006, the ministry announced a tentative plan for the revision of the law and held a public hearing to air opinions and seek advice.
But Kim argued that most of the important issues were not taken into consideration when the bill was made, citing that the revised law will not protect the human rights of illegal immigrants properly, especially during their crackdown, arrest and detention.
``We are not asking them not to crack down illegal immigrants. But it should be done in a legal way to protect their basic rights,'' Kim said.
The minimum efforts should include following correct procedures when checking a person on the street and only raiding workplaces with a warrant, he said.
The human rights organization also urged the ministry to reconsider other vague articles in the revised law.
``By the law, if anyone is harmed by fraud or has a problem regarding unpaid wages, they can ask for help from government organizations. But when it comes to illegal immigrants, ironically such organizations are required to report them to the immigration service first with no protection for them from illegal practices,'' Kim said.
Other suggestions that the organization will make include the parts in the bill regarding the handling of refugees as their basic human rights are often neglected in the complicated procedures.