Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Ki-pyo. [Provided by lawmaker's office]
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Ki-pyo. [Provided by lawmaker's office]

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Ki-pyo, who represents Bucheon in Gyeonggi Province and sits on the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, announced Tuesday that he had introduced a bill Friday to amend the Refugee Act to bring it in line with the UN International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, to which South Korea is a party.

According to the National Human Rights Commission's international human rights information system, the convention was adopted in December 2006 and entered into force in December 2010. South Korea acceded to it in January 2023 and began applying it the following month.

Article 1, paragraph 1 of the convention states that no one shall be subjected to enforced disappearance, while paragraph 2 provides that no exceptional circumstances whatsoever — whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency — may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance.

Kim explained the rationale for the bill, saying that despite being a party to the UN convention, South Korea had not incorporated into the Refugee Act's non-refoulement provisions the obligation under Article 16 of the convention prohibiting the expulsion, return, transfer or extradition of a person to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing that person would be at risk of enforced disappearance.

Article 16, paragraph 1 of the convention states that no state party shall expel, return, surrender or extradite a person to another state where there are substantial grounds for believing that person would be in danger of being subjected to enforced disappearance.

The gap between the already-ratified international convention and domestic law has persisted, and concerns have been raised that people being repatriated at ports of entry face risks of enforced disappearance, including secret detention and concealment of fate.

According to Kim, the National Human Rights Commission proposed to the speaker of the National Assembly last year in July that the relevant legislation be amended to incorporate the prohibition on forced repatriation. The commission also urged the establishment of a substantive domestic implementation regime through a statement issued on Aug. 29, the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

The proposed amendment adds Article 16 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance as a legal basis for Article 3 of the Refugee Act — the provision prohibiting forced repatriation — which currently states that recognized refugees, humanitarian status holders and asylum seekers shall not be forcibly returned against their will.

The current law cites only Article 33 of the Refugee Convention and Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment as its legal bases.

"We will fulfill our national obligations by aligning our laws with the standards of the international conventions we have ratified, and continue to strengthen the principles of humanitarian protection and the coherence of our domestic legal framework," Kim said.


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