Recently a Pakistani migrant worker went to the prosecution to get help obtaining the severance pay he was owed. Immediately after he got it, however, he was arrested. Prosecutors say they know he came to them for help in getting his wages, but that knowing he had overstayed his visa they could not just let him go. They were executing they law and so in principle you cannot blame them for arresting him. You might even say they treated him right for getting him his money first.
But when you think the spirit of the law and the need to protect civil rights the move was harsh. It is essentially telling migrant workers to seek their rights and get deported or give up their rights in order to avoid deportation. You cannot guarantee their civil rights that way. That is why groups that work for the civil rights of migrant workers are condemning what happened.
According to these groups similar situations have been occurring all over the country since the government started its crackdown on foreign labor. They say that when a migrant worker goes to the police to report a theft, often the police begin by checking whether the person has legal status or not. Formerly they were able to freely ask the police for help; now they avoid going to the police station.
Foreigners caught up in the government's dragnet and are in the custody of immigration also have a difficult time asserting their rights. The government gives deportation deferments to illegal foreign workers in detention who have been denied wages or who have suffered work-related injuries and sometimes it temporarily releases them from detention for those reasons. They need to have someone legally guarantee they will return, however, and conditions are so hard to satisfy that these rights groups say that makes it hard for the government's measures to be effective.
Even if you wear the label "illegal alien" you still should not have to hang so low that you are unable to have your rights protected. Can Korea call itself a civilized nation despite what is happening? The government must stop this deportation campaign that suppresses civil rights while not doing much in the way of achieving what it was supposed to. Cracking down on illegal foreign labor cannot be given more priority than the protection of civil rights.
The Hankyoreh, 11 April 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
Civil Rights More Important that Illegal Labor |
