Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
Civic groups denounce revised restraint rules at immigration detention centers
Members of civic groups hold a rally in front of Cheongwaedae, Seoul, Dec. 13, 2021, denouncing the excessive use of force against a detainee at an immigration center in Hwaseong, Gyeoggini Province. Newsis
By Lee Hyo-jin
By Lee Hyo-jin
Local civic groups have denounced a decision by the government to revise existing rules on the use of restraints at immigration detention centers, saying that the new regulations could serve as legal grounds to torture detainees.
The Ministry of Justice announced on May 25 revised regulations on restraints that are used on detainees at immigration detention centers, removing rope, and adding ankle guards, protective headgear and restraint chairs instead.
An immigration detention center is a facility operated by the justice ministry, where undocumented people of foreign nationality facing deportation are held.
“The revised rules are shocking,” a coalition of migrant's rights groups said in a statement. “If implemented, they will allow the use of problematic equipment that have so far been used without legal grounds.”
In particular, the civic groups voiced concerns over the planned use of the restraint chair, saying it had resulted in the death of a detainee who had been restrained in such a chair for 32 hours at a correctional facility in Busan in May 2020.
“It is hard to believe that the ministry has introduced these measures to prevent recurrences of human rights violations at immigration detention centers,” they said, calling on the authorities to withdraw the revised rules.
According to the ministry, the new rules were introduced as follow-up measures to better protect the human rights of detainees, following its acknowledgement of human rights violations at an immigration detention center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province in November of last year.
A Moroccan man in his 30s was subject to inhumane treatment there, with video footage showing him writhing on the floor with his feet and hands tied together behind his back and his head covered with protective headgear.
Following public criticism, the ministry promised to improve the way it manages detainees at immigrant detention facilities.