Seoul Seeks to Improving Rights of Asians
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A guideline to protect human rights of migrant workers and spouses was adopted at the closure of an international conference hosted by the National Human Rights Commission, Wednesday, setting eight themes in upgrading their living conditions.
The ``Seoul Guideline'' calls on Asian countries to cooperate to promote and protect the rights of migrants in Asia.
Both migrant women' country of origin and destination should pursue coordinated efforts to ensure their safety, security and dignity, the guideline said.
``Given the particular vulnerability of migrant women to abuse and exploitation, human rights institutes should develop common action programs aimed at improving the human rights environment,'' it said.
It raised the need for enacting regulations to punish those treating migrant wives as tradable objects.
``We should promote the coordination of national policies regarding international marriage brokerage activities to prevent and prosecute activities that mislead women into marriage or violate the human dignity of women by treating them as a tradable commodity.''
Ensuring equal education regardless of the immigration status of both migrants and their children was also included in the guideline.
``We should promote and pursue the development of countrywide educational programs and materials, in all appropriate languages, aimed at increasing human rights awareness among migrants, as well as empowering them to assert and secure their rights and remedies under the respective national legal systems,'' it said.
``Although this guideline is not mandatory, it will let more policy makers pay attention to the human rights of migrants,'' Korean delegate Hwang Seong-yong said.
The state-funded commission hosted the conference with a three-day run from Monday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human rights activists from 13 countries participated in the event.