[STATEMENT] Crackdowns on Undocumented Migrants in South Korea
Stop the crackdowns on undocumented migrants in South Korea!
Implement a just, lasting and rights-based solution for the welfare of all migrants!
International Migrants Alliance (IMA) Solidarity Statement on the South Korean government crackdown on undocumented migrants
April 22nd 2024
The International Migrants Alliance stands in solidarity with all migrant groups and communities and the South Korean community in condemning the crackdown being led by the South Korean government on undocumented migrants.
Recently, the South Korean government announced a crackdown on undocumented migrants for a period of 77 days, starting from April 15 to June 30, 2024. This crackdown campaign comes after the failure of previous crackdowns when numerous assaults, injuries and even deaths occurred. Despite the government’s stated goal of reducing the number of undocumented migrants, the number of undocumented migrants has increased from 410,965 in January 2023 to 423,085 in January 2024. This indicates that arrest and deportation policies are ineffective as they do not address the causes of migrants becoming undocumented.
The total number of migrant workers in South Korea currently exceeds 2 million people from various countries. Decreasing birth rates and a decline in the number of productive workers have made South Korea reliant on migrant workers to work in both large and small factories, remote fields, and fishing boats. Migrant workers perform dangerous, low-paying and exhausting labor that many Koreans themselves are unwilling to do. Despite this, the South Korean government and employers continue to neglect the welfare of migrant workers. They are unable to freely change employers, and are often victims of predatory employers seeking cheap labour who subject them to dangerous work. Moreover, they also face discrimination and abuse.
Migrant crackdowns have and always will disproportionately affect the poorer communities. In the past crackdowns, the country saw an increase in human rights abuses and economic strain on communities that rely on migrant labour. Crackdowns are extremely harmful to migrants’ physical and mental wellbeing. Immigration officers have raided churches and music concerts, and assaulted women in factories. An undocumented migrant, fleeing from immigration officers, tragically died after jumping from a four-story building in Korea. By enforcing crackdowns on undocumented migrants, the government justifies the inhumane treatment and violence used against them.
No migrant wishes to become undocumented but they are forced to due to issues such as a flawed legal system that allows people to lose their visa at any time, rigid immigration administration, and failed government immigration policies.
Migrant organisations, workers’ unions and human rights groups in South Korea have called for a policy of granting the right to stay to be implemented, instead of the violent crackdown. They also called on the government to include migrants in public services such as healthcare and education.
The IMA supports and echoes these calls as well as the call on the South Korean government to acknowledge the problems that cause migrant workers to become undocumented - the existing anti-migrant policies, the unjust and inhumane treatment and exploitation of migrant workers, and the systemic racism and discrimination that further isolate and make them vulnerable to abuse. The IMA likewise calls on migrant-sending country governments to uphold and defend the rights, well-being and dignity of their nationals living and working in South Korea by joining the call to stop the crackdown and find just, lasting and rights-based solutions to undocumented migration.
Stop joint government crackdowns!
Grant residency rights to undocumented migrants!
Uphold migrant workers’ rights!
No one is illegal!
Reference: Eni Lestari, IMA Chairperson
