ASIAN WORKERS NEWS March 31, 2013
NO. 311
[AWN FOCUS]
"Dead or hurt... it’s none of our business." The National Human Rights Commission decided to reject the petition of the injuries and deaths during the crackdown by the immigration officers. The Commission rejected the two petitions raised on two cases of a Chinese who got injured and an Indonesian who died during the crackdown by the Immigration Officers of the Labor Ministry. On the November 12, 2012, an Indonesian fell down from an 8m high wall while running away from the crackdown by 9 officers of the Pusan Immigration Office. They suddenly appeared in the factory where he worked. The human rights NGO in Busan and Kyoungnam criticized their indiscriminative crackdown by saying, “It is because they proceeded forcefully in the night even though they knew the facts that there was a wall after searching the place beforehand.” A Chinese got hurt on one eye and the head, stumbled down on a pepper supporter while running away from the crackdown by the immigration officers who came to his lodging at around 7 pm, Aug. 27, 2012. Nevertheless, they
arrested and put him on a van. After his
officers left the injured person.
appealing for the pain and bleeding on
The two activists from “Solidarity with
his eye, they let him go after taking him to the lodging. He stayed unconscious
Migrants” who helped with the two cases said, “Their decision is not that different
for 3 days after taken to hospital by the
from that of the immigration officers who
Ambulance. After two operations, he got
said why they had to take responsibility
his one eye not open properly and blurry, his forehead without any sense
for those who had gotten hurt while running away by themselves. And also
and his mouth not closed.
they criticised the decision by saying that
Here is the reason why the Commission rejected them on of February 27, 2013. It is not illegal or a human rights violation for the immigration to visit the factory to investigate; the victim got injured while running away by himself and also the immigration officers were not aware of the injuries. It is not true or there is no evidence to support the argument that the
this would not end if they keep going on the crackdown which can threaten lives and health of human.”
photo by <Ohmynews>
Obligation to report to the Immigration about undocumented migrants exempted for some public servants. The ‘Obligatory Report by Civil Servants’ of the immigration law is exempt for those who work for rights of migrants from Mar. 1, 2013. According to the Article 84 of the law, a servant should report it immediately to the immigration office when he or she finds out someone is an undocumented migrant. It is expected to give some room for breath for the undocumented migrants who would not dare to report any crime he got. This time, the public servants who are exempt to reporting are prosecutors, police officers (including maritime police officers), the servants of elementary, middle and high schools, the servants of public medical institutes and the National Human Rights Commission. However, the servants of the Labor Ministry are not included in them, which still gives the undocumented migrants difficulties in using the Labor Ministry. A Myanmar activist said, “The payment delay is a serious crime and I don’t understand why they discriminate it from the other crimes. Isn’t it that the payment delay may be ignored by employers because of the difficult economic situations in Korea?”
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ASIAN WORKERS NEWS
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*We met four Chinese crewmen with E-10 visa working in Busan and listened to what they wanted to say. This story will appear serially in two installations. *Interviewee: Sang, Seo, Wang, Yang(nickname)
“I came into Korea paying 15 million won but my salary is 1.2 million won” Sang : I came from Henan Province. It was September 2008. I didn't mean to come as a crewman but the exporting company in my village recruited only crew. I paid about 13 million Korean won. I have taken a squid trawling ship from the beginning until now. Once we put out to sea, returning is not fixed. When we catch squid we depart in the afternoon and come back the following morning. But when we catch other types of fish we have to work for several days in the ocean. The longest - 18 straight days I have to be in the sea. Fortunately, Korean co-workers are not bad. At least they don't beat us. Seo : I also came in September 2008 and work on a squid trawling boat. All my co-workers except me are Koreans. There are, of course, difficult times. But I paid about 15million Korean won, so I have to endure well. It has been already about five years. Wang : I arrived from Henan Province in July 2010. As soon as I came to Korea, my identification was confiscated and was forced to ride on two-boat trawl. Once departed, I had to work for three days consecutively without sleep. Except when typhoon was coming, we worked continuously. As soon as unpacking fish on shore, we had to go fishing again. While waiting for the fish, Korean workers took rest but I had to repair nets. And for two to three days every three months I took days off. I got 800,000 Korean won first month. Now I do same work, take same amount of days off but receive 1.6 million won. Because working on two-boat trawl is too hard. Yang : I came from Henam Province in June 2010. I rode a squid trawling boat. First I received 800,000 won but now 1.24 million won.
“Higher Compensation for UDWs than Legal Crew” Wang : In last autumn I called my home and my family asked me whether I knew the news that one of my neighbors who worked as crew in Korea was missing. He was one of my friends who lived near my house, and later I heard that he was missing while working in the sea last September. At last he was not found and reported death. After listening to this story, I was very scared. Because this kind of accident can happen to me as well.
Yang : I used to take a rest, have a meal and drink together with that missing guy. He worked with another Chinese, one Vietnamese and Korean crew on that boat. The day when the accident happened, both of Chinese crewmen were missing. I don't know the story in detail, but I heard that there were high waves and they shouldn't have departed. I didn't meet the Vietnamese friend so no one knows what exactly happened. Moreover, it was in September, and his family has not received compensation for his death yet. They do not know how much they will be compensated nor who has the compensation money. What is worse, the compensation for crewmen who die while working legally is lower than that for undocumented migrant workers who die while working in a manufacturing factory.
“Legal Crew doing dangerous work and receiving less money, Should they work continuously?” Seo : Of course. Undocumented migrant workers receive much higher wage than legal crewmen. We, crew don't have overtime pay. So, undocumented migrant workers receive more accident compensation. I am also wavering between receiving less wage but working hard and legally. I'm getting accustomed to working on a boat. But I'm still scared and afraid of an accident whenever I put out to the sea. I'm negotiating renewing my contract with the captain and the office to continue to work after visiting China 5 years later when my current contact expires. But I haven't decided my mind yet. If I become undocumented, I can't go to meet my family. So, this time I'll go home and discuss this matter with my family. Sang : I'm also in the middle of renewing my contract, but I don't know either. Each boat has a different situation. In case of our boat, Korean co-workers are relatively good to me, and I don't want to be undocumented yet. Even though my wage is low and it's very hard work, it's legal work which allows me to visit my family in China. For that reason I'm thinking to work as a crew continuously. Seo,Wang,Yang: No, no. Become undocumented! That's better!
March 31, 2013 Controlling undocumented migrants, Pre-warning and wide area crackdown in effect.
alcoholics or touching in a meeting dinner(29%), sexuall telephone or showing pornographic materials(19.4%) and
The crackdown on the undocumented migrant workers
so on. The attackers are an employer(57.6%), a Korean
is proceeded after pre-warning from Mar., 18. The Law
colleague(51.5%) and a Korean manager(45.5%). The
Ministry announced that we will stop the previous random
repetition by a Korean colleague is less than 4 but more
questioning and start the pre-warning crackdown district by
than 10 times by an employer takes 20%.
disctrict. Therefore, from then, the immigration office visits
56.4% among the victims didn't report it because of
the workplace within 1 or 2 weeks after sending a notice to
the language problem, humiliation and so on. The cases
the company demanding the cooperation for the crackdown.
that the attacker is punished by law takes only 23.1%
They will issue a search warranty to a company which
when it is reported. Only 10.3% answered that they got
denies or disturbs it.
an education for preventing sexual assault, which must be
Before this, the 18 immigration offices have visited work places
randomly
without
warning
to
search
for
the
undocumented but about 30 immigration officers together crackdown undocumented in each of 5 areas, Metropolitan, Ho-nam, Youngnam and so on. It's because there have been human rights violations such as injuries and deaths during the crackdown. There were 49 undocumented workers who got injuries or died during the crackdown for 5 years. Actually an Indonesian undocumented fell down to death while running away in November, 2012. But, before the district by district crackdown is settled down, they are going to do the random crackdown without warning. For the policy of the Law Ministry, an activist in the Daegu Migrant Solidarity Conference said, "Probably, the previous injuries or deaths will be still the problems because still the random crackdown is possible when needed." There are about 177,000 undocumented in December, 2012 and it is expected that there will be about 205,000 undocumented in 2013 because about 38% of E-9 workers become documented according to a statistics. AWN
done 1 time a year. What the correspondents demanded are
re-enforcing
the
punishment
for
the
sexual
assault(32.9%), renting a safe house(18.6%), human rights education(12.6%),
advertising
on the organization for
reporting the cases. (Yonhap News, Mar. 4, 2013)
The multi-cultural families, the living got better but the discriminations bigger. The living conditions for the families are found to be better for the 3 years but the quality of the jobs are found still to be worse and the social discriminations to become bigger. According to the research, "The Research on the Actual Status of the Multi-cultural familes in Korea, 2012", the divorce rate is 53.1% in 2009 and 37.8% in 2012, which became better, the rate of women married migrants getting a job is increased by 16.1% but the jobs are irregular jobs, simple works and so on, which means the quality of their jobs is poor. The rate that they feel discriminated toward their families is 36.4% in 2009
10.7% of E-9 woman migrant workers got sexually assaulted.
and 41.3% in 2012. The places where they felt are work places,
stores,
restaurants,
banks,
town,
public
organizations and so on. About 63.8% among the children
According to a survey, 1 out of 10 woman migrant workers are turned out to be sexual victims such as sexual assault, sexual harrasssment and so on. On the 4th of
who grew abroad came to Korea after 15 years old and weak in learning. According to the results, the Ministry of Gender
March, MNTV(www.mntv.net) and the Korean Foreign
Equality
Human Power Support Center announced that they got the
counter-measures such as the customized job training,
results
expanding
through
the
survey
questionaire
for
the
1,218
migrants with E-9 visa(975 males and 205 females).
and
Family
good
jobs,
planned
to
re-enforcing
take social
an
active
network,
supporting the learning of the children. Currently, there
22(10.7%) among women and 15 among men answered that
are estimated to be 283,224 married migrants(226,084
they got assualted or harrassed sexually. The types are sexual
females, 57,140 males) and 66,536 children of 9 to 24
assault(35.5%),
years old(32,655 females, 33,882 males). AWN
touching body(35.5%), demanding to drink
ASIAN WORKERS NEWS
Information
Counseling
Join <Thingyan Water Festival>!
I’d like to check my health condition, how can I do it? by Han Areum, SOMI counselor
Q > I`m a migrant worker in Noksan Industrial Complex. I’ve been working in a plating factory for 1 year. I’ve been washing the mechanical parts with VOCs (volatile organic compounds). Some chemicals smell so bad that I sometimes have a headache. I feel uneasy about my health, because I think the chemicals are bad for Busan-Kyungnam Myanmar Community'll hold
the body. I’d like to check my health condition, how can I do it?
the 5th Thingyan Water Festival. The Community'll prepare Myanmar traditional foods, traditional dance performances for all participants. And Myanmar migrant workers' Band 'AN ERA' will perform also.
A > According to the law, all production workers are required to undergo a medical exam which is provided by the employer once a
We invite all people who'd like to know about
year. Especially workers who are exposed to toxic materials like
Myanmar and who'd like to meet with Myanmar
VOCs (formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, etc.), harmful metals (copper,
people in Korea. Everybody'll be welcomed!
lead, mercury,
◆Date : 14th(Sun) April 2013 12pm~5pm ◆Place : Stage in front of Renecite in Sasang, Busan
etc.), some gases (fluorine,
bromine,
etc.), dust
particles and noise are required to get a special health check regularly. It means that you need to have an annual health check, and during your handling of the VOCs you have to take a special health check periodically. Of course, the cost must be paid by the company and
Join <Noksan Workers' Sports Festival>!
the special health check is in full compliance with the law. So you can demand the health check to your company. If your employer avoids his obligation, please report to the Ministry of Labor or contact a migrants support center.
AWN
ASIAN WORKERS NEWS
'Finding the hope in Noksan' and migrant workers' communities hold the 2nd Noksan Workers' Sports Festival on 28th April. All workers'll be welcomed! ◆Date : 28h(Sun) April 2013 10:30am~4pm ◆Place : Noksan Heemang park(녹산희망공원), Busan
Editor Reporters Translators Proof readers Layout Tel / Fax E-mail Homepage Address 614-865)
Kim So-ryoung Kim So-ryoung, Lim A-yeong, Danny R Guerra, Toe Thu Ya Kim Hoe-ran, Park Kyung-wun, Lee Dong-hun Tess Manangan Kim So-ryoung
051-802-3438 / 051-803-9630 somi3438@hanmail.net http://fwr.jinbo.net 4F 193-9 Jeonpo-2 dong, Jingu, Busan, Korea (Postal Code
(in front of Samsung Junki(삼성전기 앞)) ◆Program: Volleyball, Sepactakro(세팍타크로),족구 Relay, Singing performances, Free medical check and Lunch
Solidarity with Migrants
(사)이주민과 함께