"Eliminating Policy Blind Spots": Gyeonggi Province Proposes "Impact Assessment" at Immigrant Policy Forum

Proposal for Introducing Immigrant Impact Assessment
Sharing Achievements of the Diversity Communication and Coordination Committee

On the 25th, Gyeonggi Province held the "3rd Immigration Society Policy Network Forum" at the Gyeonggi Immigration and Social Integration Support Center, under the theme "Immigrants Excluded from Policy, What Should Be Done?"

Gyeonggi Province is holding the "3rd Immigration Society Policy Network Forum" on the 25th at the Gyeonggi Immigration and Social Integration Support Center, with the theme "Immigrants Excluded from Policy, What Should Be Done?" Photo by Gyeonggi Province

The forum was attended by 40 participants, including representatives from immigrant support centers in each city and county, global youth centers, civil society organizations, and labor law firms.

Choi Jeonggyu, Chair of the Center's Diversity Communication and Coordination Committee, delivered the keynote presentation and shared examples of immigrant exclusion from policy and possible solutions. Chair Choi proposed the introduction of an "immigrant impact assessment" as an institutional mechanism to prevent discrimination against immigrants. He explained that establishing a system to analyze and evaluate the potential impact on immigrants in advance when enacting ordinances would help prevent immigrants from being unfairly excluded from policy.

Kim Daegwon, Team Leader at the Center, then pointed out several limitations encountered during committee operations, including a low acceptance rate of coordination, difficulties in identifying cases, and a lack of legal enforcement. He emphasized that the impact assessment system could serve as a fundamental solution.

Launched in 2019, the Diversity Communication and Coordination Committee is composed of 14 experts from the private sector, public sector, and academia, and holds four working meetings each year. The committee has identified institutional gaps such as the absence of multilingual standard labor contracts, discrimination in the application of health insurance benefits for foreigners, and the lack of interpreters when calling 119 emergency services. Through its work, the committee has expanded the beneficiaries of the Gyeonggi Province Women's and Youth Sanitary Product Support Project and the Gyeonggi Province Youth Transportation Subsidy Project to include youth with immigrant backgrounds.

Park Hyeran, Head of the Immigration Society Policy Team at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "Building on the achievements of the committee and the recently enacted ordinance to strengthen the protection of immigrant human rights, Gyeonggi Province will take the lead in respecting human rights and embracing diversity."

Meanwhile, since 2014, the Gyeonggi Immigration and Social Integration Support Center has hosted forums every year on a wide range of topics, including the social exclusion of migrant workers, the growth and policy challenges of children of immigrants, fact-finding reports on supporting the health rights of undocumented immigrant children, trends and prospects in Gyeonggi Province's foreigner policies, discussions on residency rights for immigrants during COVID-19, and community integration and cultural diversity. The center has been at the forefront of advancing policies to ensure the protection of immigrant human rights.

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