Human Rights Commission: "Restricting Overseas Volunteer Members' Vacation Destinations is a Human Rights Violation"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jeong] The National Human Rights Commission has ruled that regulations restricting overseas dispatched volunteers from taking vacations in countries other than their assigned country constitute human rights violations.

According to the Human Rights Commission on the 10th, complainant B, a member of volunteer group A dispatched overseas, stated, "Volunteer group A prohibits volunteers from leaving the assigned country within one year of dispatch unless there are special reasons," and added, "It is unfair to ban overseas travel during all holidays and vacation periods and even prevent returning to Korea solely for management convenience," filing a complaint.

In response, volunteer group A explained, "The countries where volunteers are dispatched are developing countries, raising safety concerns, and the first year after dispatch is the most critical period to focus on local adaptation and performance management for volunteer activities," adding, "We prioritize the safety of dispatched personnel and the effective achievement of volunteer activity goals over individual freedom and welfare enhancement, thus restricting volunteers' vacation destinations."

The Human Rights Commission's Second Committee for Relief of Human Rights Violations acknowledged, "We recognize the necessity from group A's perspective to ensure the safety of dispatched personnel and pursue effective achievement of volunteer activity goals," but also stated, "There is no causal relationship between the security situation within the assigned country and the restriction on vacations to countries other than the assigned country, including Korea, and it is difficult to find circumstances that justify that restricting vacation destinations helps achieve volunteer activity goals."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.