Human Rights Commission: "Delayed Refugee Screening... Need for Increased Staffing and System Improvement"

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) has recommended increasing personnel and improving the system to ensure prompt and fair refugee recognition reviews.

On the 20th, the NHRCK announced that it recommended to the Minister of Justice the establishment of qualification standards to secure the expertise of dedicated refugee officers, a significant increase in refugee adjudicators, the establishment of a permanent Refugee Committee, and the expansion of the Refugee Committee members.

According to the NHRCK, complainant A came to Korea in August 2018, applied for refugee status, and had the first interview after three years. Furthermore, after the refugee application was denied and an objection was filed, A waited nearly two more years, living with unstable residency status for five years due to unjust delays in the review process, and filed a complaint with the NHRCK. In response, the Ministry of Justice stated, "Refugee recognition reviews and objection reviews are basically conducted in the order of receipt," and "The refugee review for A was conducted according to this principle, and there was no particular delay." However, it added, "In 2020 and 2021, the waiting time increased due to the temporary suspension of refugee interviews and adjustment of interview room operation rates to prevent COVID-19 infection."

During the subsequent investigation, the NHRCK dismissed the complaint as no separate relief measures were necessary, such as granting refugee status to A. However, separately, it judged that the system related to delays in refugee reviews needs to be improved to comply with the Constitution, the Refugee Act, and international human rights standards such as the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The NHRCK stated, "Currently, there are only 90 dedicated refugee officers nationwide, including four refugee adjudicators. As of the end of last year, the number of pending cases was 11,063 for first reviews and 4,888 for objection reviews, averaging 177 cases per dedicated refugee officer." It added, "Due to international circumstances and the nature of refugee recognition reviews, in-depth and supplementary interviews must be conducted, but each dedicated refugee officer can only conduct 1 to 2 interviews per day, which may cause delays in refugee reviews." Furthermore, it recommended, "To secure the expertise of dedicated refugee officers, qualification standards equivalent to those of refugee adjudicators should be established, and internal guidelines on the appropriate number of cases per adjudicator should be prepared." It also emphasized the need to improve the system to enable prompt and fair refugee review operations through increasing the number of refugee adjudicators.

The NHRCK also pointed out, "According to Ministry of Justice statistics, the review period for objections to refugee denial decisions has been delayed, lasting 10.7 months in 2020, 9.7 months in 2021, and 11.8 months in 2022." It noted, "The Refugee Committee, a non-permanent body composed of 15 part-time members, faces difficulties in promptly conducting objection reviews due to members’ concurrent positions and challenges in convening meetings, and the number of cases handled per meeting is too large." It added, "The Refugee Committee’s membership should be expanded, and the committee should be made permanent to shorten the objection review period and enhance fairness."

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