UN finds Korea violated rights of Congolese asylum seeker held 14 months at airport

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The UN Human Rights Committee ruled Thursday that Korea violated the rights of a Congolese asylum seeker who spent 14 months in an airport transit zone, concluding that Seoul's refusal to process his refugee claim left him in arbitrary detention and inhumane conditions.

In 2020, the man, who is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), arrived at Incheon International Airport as a transit passenger and requested refugee status after fleeing his home country, having been kidnapped by an armed rebel group and accused of membership in it. The authorities refused to process his claim, saying transit passengers who had not cleared immigration were ineligible under the Refugee Act.

He remained in the transit area for 14 months until April 2021, enduring conditions the committee described as inhumane — with little privacy and inadequate access to basic necessities — during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Forcing transit passengers, especially those seeking asylum, to stay in a restricted space for an indefinite period, under inhumane conditions, struggling for food, medical assistance and hygiene products not only amounts to placing them in legal limbo, but also left the victim of this case in a situation of distress incompatible with the Covenant,” said Hélène Tigroudja, vice chair of the committee, referring to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The committee said the man was deprived of the chance to seek protection from refoulement, as his claim was dismissed on formal grounds without any assessment of the risks he would have faced if returned.

It added that his 14 months in the transit area — with no way to leave except by departing the country — amounted to arbitrary detention with no clear legal basis, and that the unsanitary conditions he endured, including insufficient accommodation, food, medicine and constant lighting, violated his right to be treated humanely and with dignity.

“This case is an example of how denial of the right to seek asylum can trigger a chain of further violations,” Tigroudja said. “The Republic of Korea must ensure that no one is left for months in any transit zone without protection, legal basis, or dignified conditions.”

The committee noted, however, that Korea's courts subsequently took an important corrective approach, with both the Incheon District Court and the Seoul High Court ruling that transit passengers should be able to apply for refugee status.

The committee called on Korea to provide the complainant with an effective remedy, including appropriate compensation for material and moral harm, and to take steps to prevent similar violations in the future. It also requested that Korea report back within 180 days on the measures it has taken.