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| Gettyimagesbank |
By Lee Hyo-jin
The government is facing growing calls from civic activists to improve the refugee screening system to ensure fairness and transparency, as the cumulative number of asylum seekers here has passed 70,000.
According to data from the Korea Immigration Service (KIS), Monday, the number of people who filed for refugee status here from 1994 to August this year was 70,254. Only 5,069 came to Korea seeking asylum from 1994 to 2012, but it began to increase rapidly in 2013 when the Refugee Act went into effect.
The country had 1,574 applicants in 2013, 9,942 in 2017, 16,173 in 2018 and 15,142 in 2019.
The data showed the refugee recognition rate has been declining steadily over the past few years, plunging to a record low of one percent this year. In the January-August period, only 1 percent, or 41 of 4,019 asylum seekers, were recognized as refugees.
Approximately 12 percent of applicants were given approval from 1994 to 2012. The number stood at 10 percent in 2013 and 6 percent in 2014, and dropped to 1.5 percent in 2019.
"The screening process in Europe or Canada usually takes a few weeks and if revoked, the applicant is provided with sufficient reasons for denial. On the other hand, the speedy process in Korea completed within less than a week deprives applicants' opportunity for proper interviews," said Go Eun-ji, an official at NANCEN, a Seoul-based refugee rights center.
Go pointed out that the declining number is attributable to lack of professionalism and independence of the immigration office, with its officials being pressured to handle too many cases in a short period of time.
She called for establishment of a separate organization including civic lawyers and local experts for a more transparent and professional screening process.
The government currently has around 40 officials for the screening process, each pushed to review at least 44 cases per month.
To resolve the backlog, the Ministry of Justice implemented a simplified screening process in November 2014. The overall procedure which initially took several months was shortened to less than a week. Officials were assigned to complete one-on-one interviews with each applicant within 30 minutes.
"Interviews ought to be conducted thoroughly and comprehensively for several hours in order to review the background of each asylum seeker, but the officials are failing to do so," Go explained.
Some of the "hastily conducted" interviews have even led to human rights violations. Testimony given by several asylum seekers in interviews was found to be mistranslated or inaccurately recorded by immigration officials, according to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) in mid-October.
"The insufficient staff in the immigration office are failing to give refugee seekers a chance for a fair interview," said Kim Young-ah, head of Migration to Asia Peace (MAP), a migrants' right group.
The bureaucratic screening procedure in which low-ranking officials need approval of their superiors to finalize their decisions may be another reason for the low recognition rate.
"If applicants from a certain country or with certain religious backgrounds have been rejected, they continue to be denied. Civil servants feel hesitant about making exceptional cases as it will lead to more paperwork and reports to superiors," Go said.
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