Foreign workers fall victim to discriminatory rules

Le Thi Mai Thu, human rights team leader of the Women Migrants Human Rights Center of Korea, condemns discrimination against immigrant spouses at a press conference at Gwangwhamun Square, downtown Seoul, Monday, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

By Kim Bo-eun

Despite growing racial diversity in Korea, discrimination against migrants remains widespread, hindering their integration into Korean society.

A coalition of civic groups supporting the rights of migrant workers and foreign spouses stated during a press conference at Gwanghwamun Square, downtown Seoul, Monday, that racial discrimination here is getting worse.

The conference was held to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Discrimination continues to haunt migrant workers, foreign spouses and foreign residents, the coalition stated.

According to a survey by the Gyeonggi Institute of Research and Policy Development for Migrants' Human Rights of 560 foreign residents last year, 43.7 percent said they felt discriminated against at their workplaces.

In case of marriage immigrants, who are mostly women, they can only extend their stay or acquire permanent residency with the consent of their Korean spouses. "This subordinates the women to their husbands, and puts them at greater risk of being abused," an activist said at the conference.

In a report last year, a U.N. envoy on racism advised the Korean government to provide equal rights to immigrant brides including the stability of their stay, she said.

In another survey conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in 2015, some 60 percent of Koreans said that Korean nationals should have priority over foreigners for jobs when the job market is tough, and more than 31 percent of Korean adults also said they did not want immigrants as neighbors, comparable to significantly lower figures in other developed countries such as the U.S., Germany and Sweden.

"You see hate speech online and offline — you even see lawmakers make racist remarks," said Park Jin-woo, deputy secretary for the Migrants Trade Unions of the Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon office. "This is something that should be strongly condemned, so that people develop a sense of vigilance."

The participants of the conference also called for the amendment of workplace regulations, which discriminate against foreign workers in severance pay and freedom to choose their workplaces.

The employment permit system requires migrant workers to work for four years and 10 months until they are eligible to receive severance pay, while Korean workers can receive it after one year. Also the payment of severance pay for foreign workers is made 14 days after they leave the country, they said.

"The regulations force migrant workers to stay longer and then leave soon after their contract expires," Park said. "Providing severance pay after the workers leave the country also makes it difficult for them to deal with the potential delay of payment."

It is important to host campaigns and education sessions which can raise people's awareness of the harms of discrimination, Park said.

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