当前位置:首页 > 新闻中心 > [Newsmaker] Some 220 children held in immigrant detention centers in South Korea 正文
[Newsmaker] Some 220 children held in immigrant detention centers in South Korea
时间:2024-09-23 05:23:53 来源:玉林新闻
The National Human Rights Commission Korea said Tuesday that holding young children in prison-like immigration detention centers must be prohibited, revealing that 225 foreign-born children including a 2-year-old were detained in such facilities in South Korea from 2015-2017.
“We strongly advise the government to revise the relevant laws to ban detainment of all children in the country, as it can be a traumatic experience for any child, even if it is for a short period,” the human rights commission said in a statement.
Some of the detained children in South Korea may have been separated from their families, the agency told The Korea Herald. The 2-year-old girl was detained for 50 days in a detention facility. It is unclear whether the infant was with her parents or guardian while staying in the institution, according to the agency.
Detainees at Hwaseong Immigration Detention Center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. (Yonhap)
Although South Korea became a party to the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention in 1992, the country’s immigration and detention policies have been subject to criticisms.
In 2011, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child advised the country to refrain from detaining asylum seekers and immigrant children without parents or guardians. Last year, the UN Committee against Torture expressed concerns over South Korea’s detention facilities and detaining of migrant children.
Overseas studies have shown that the longer children remain in institutional settings, such as detention facilities, the greater their risk of mental-health conditions, such as depression and PTSD. It has been reported that migrant children who have been detained, especially those who were forcefully separated from their families, often refuse to eat, wet their beds and constantly have nightmares.
According to Luis Zayas, the dean of the school of social work at the University of Texas at Austin, a child’s brain does not properly develop when it is under constant stress. This, according to the scholar, may result in a lack of problem solving skills and inability to read social cues throughout their adult years.
Critics have pointed out that many of the detention centers in South Korea are similar to prisons, and may be unsuitable for children. Detainees stay in enclosed spaces with cell bars and have no or very limited access to phones and the internet, among other conditions.
It has also been reported that detainees at times have been denied access to interpreters and forced to sign documents in a foreign language.
In 2007, 10 foreign-born detainees who were held at the Yeosu Immigration Office Detention Facility in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, were killed by fire. At the time, staff were criticized for reportedly spraying fire extinguishers through cell bars while not unlocking cell doors because they were afraid detainees would flee.
In April, the Human Rights Commission advised the Ministry of Justice to remove cell bars in all detention centers in the country, and to guarantee internet access and leisure time to all detainees.
The human rights commission added that detention under a deportation order is currently not subject to time limitation in South Korea, and some detainees are held indefinitely -- some as long as a year or longer -- without being told when exactly they will be released.
“We also (ask the government) to revise the relevant laws to make sure that all detention in immigration detention centers have a time limit, so that detainees don’t have to wait and be held indefinitely,” the agency said in a statement.
By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)
“We strongly advise the government to revise the relevant laws to ban detainment of all children in the country, as it can be a traumatic experience for any child, even if it is for a short period,” the human rights commission said in a statement.
Some of the detained children in South Korea may have been separated from their families, the agency told The Korea Herald. The 2-year-old girl was detained for 50 days in a detention facility. It is unclear whether the infant was with her parents or guardian while staying in the institution, according to the agency.
Although South Korea became a party to the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention in 1992, the country’s immigration and detention policies have been subject to criticisms.
In 2011, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child advised the country to refrain from detaining asylum seekers and immigrant children without parents or guardians. Last year, the UN Committee against Torture expressed concerns over South Korea’s detention facilities and detaining of migrant children.
Overseas studies have shown that the longer children remain in institutional settings, such as detention facilities, the greater their risk of mental-health conditions, such as depression and PTSD. It has been reported that migrant children who have been detained, especially those who were forcefully separated from their families, often refuse to eat, wet their beds and constantly have nightmares.
According to Luis Zayas, the dean of the school of social work at the University of Texas at Austin, a child’s brain does not properly develop when it is under constant stress. This, according to the scholar, may result in a lack of problem solving skills and inability to read social cues throughout their adult years.
Critics have pointed out that many of the detention centers in South Korea are similar to prisons, and may be unsuitable for children. Detainees stay in enclosed spaces with cell bars and have no or very limited access to phones and the internet, among other conditions.
It has also been reported that detainees at times have been denied access to interpreters and forced to sign documents in a foreign language.
In 2007, 10 foreign-born detainees who were held at the Yeosu Immigration Office Detention Facility in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, were killed by fire. At the time, staff were criticized for reportedly spraying fire extinguishers through cell bars while not unlocking cell doors because they were afraid detainees would flee.
In April, the Human Rights Commission advised the Ministry of Justice to remove cell bars in all detention centers in the country, and to guarantee internet access and leisure time to all detainees.
The human rights commission added that detention under a deportation order is currently not subject to time limitation in South Korea, and some detainees are held indefinitely -- some as long as a year or longer -- without being told when exactly they will be released.
“We also (ask the government) to revise the relevant laws to make sure that all detention in immigration detention centers have a time limit, so that detainees don’t have to wait and be held indefinitely,” the agency said in a statement.
By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)
-
CrowdStrike outage is still causing hundreds of flight cancellations dailyLyft deal: Spend $100, save $15 on a Lyft gift cardHow to log out of Netflix on Apple TV, Roku, Fire, and moreHow to find Amazon Prime Day deals: Turn on Alexa's Amazon deal alertsDeceased KSafari update will make it harder for Facebook to track youNorth Korea continues to face tightest sanctions for money launderingTwitter emoji denial has Trump fundraiser fuming“大体老师”的故事:以生命点亮生命Thank you, C
相关内容
- ·13 Unbelievable Underwater Wonders in Florida
- ·Liberia Ebola death first since being declared free of virus.
- ·Amazon Smart Thermostat deal: Save 20%
- ·Apple Music web player leaks ahead of WWDC
- ·I Deleted All My Social Accounts: Three Weeks Without Social Media
- ·Watch Trump bungle his way through the lyrics to 'God Bless America'
- ·How to unblock Xnxx porn for free
- ·How to log out of Netflix on Apple TV, Roku, Fire, and more
- ·护航孩子成长 解决职工后顾之忧
- ·TomTom makes cars more chatty with the help of Microsoft AI
- ·US spy aircraft on missions over East Sea: aviation tracker
- ·签约率90.89% 恒天项目征地搬迁仅剩45户
- ·US Open 2024 livestream: How to watch US Open tennis for free
- ·Planned Parenthood victims: Police officer, Iraq veteran, mother of two.
- ·Electric car maker Fisker files for bankruptcy
- ·Deportation of North Korean fishermen
最新内容
- ·11 Telescopes Exploring The Magic of Space
- ·Benghazi committee whistleblower Brad Podliska suing Trey Gowdy for defamation.
- ·石棉公安消防大队深入在建工地查隐患
- ·强化活动成效 服务重建发展
- ·How do you make safe, cheap nuclear reactors? Bury them a mile deep
- ·Donald Trump is vile on mosques, Muslims, black America.
- ·强化活动成效 服务重建发展
- ·Housing crisis, low marriage rate correlated for millennials: study
- ·蒙顶山茶有了专属茶器
- ·Designer Sophie Theallet says she won't dress Melania Trump
推荐内容
热点内容
- ·The OLED Burn
- ·Can 'free speech' be 'moderated'? Yes.
- ·Moon invites Kim Jong
- ·Dude eats a 3
- ·The OLED Burn
- ·Apple Music web player leaks ahead of WWDC
- ·Echo deals: Get an Amazon Echo (4th gen) for $35 off
- ·North Korean defector meets with Trump at White House
- ·Sports minister says audits into football, badminton federations set to conclude in Sept.
- ·天渐凉 住进新房不畏寒