During the COVID-19 pandemic, some local governments and the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters issued administrative orders requiring COVID-19 diagnostic testing exclusively for migrant workers. In response, a coalition of migrant rights organizations came together and released a joint statement calling on authorities to establish public health policies that protect the basic rights of all community members.

Background: What Was the Problem?

As COVID-19 continued to spread, cluster infections broke out at manufacturing workplaces where many migrant workers are employed. In response, multiple local governments, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, Daegu, Gyeongbuk, Gwangju, and Jeonnam, issued a series of administrative orders requiring “all foreign workers” to get a COVID-19 diagnostic test within a set period. The orders also included penalties: employers whose workers did not comply could be fined, and newly hired migrant workers could only begin work after showing a negative test result.

Human rights organizations and foreign embassies immediately criticized the orders. Their argument: a virus does not discriminate by nationality, so forcing testing on people purely because they are foreign has no rational basis, it is discrimination. The actual cause of the cluster infections was not that the workers were migrants, but the conditions they worked and lived in: enclosed, crowded, close-contact (“three-density”) work environments and shared dormitories.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea’s Ruling

On 22 March 2021, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK)

held its 6th Plenary Meeting under Chairperson Choi Young-ae and officially ruled that these administrative orders constituted discriminatory measures that violated migrants’ right to equality. The NHRCK based its ruling on the following:

  • The equality principle of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea
  • The National Human Rights Commission of Korea Act
  • International standards including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)
  • UN guidelines developed to ensure that each country’s public health measures do not lead to discrimination or human rights violations

The NHRCK recommended that the Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and the heads of metropolitan and provincial governments establish and implement non-discriminatory public health policies grounded in human rights principles. The full details are available in the NHRCK press release.

What the Migrant Rights Organizations Demanded

The migrant rights organizations made the following demands to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters:

  • Uphold the principle of non-discrimination: The risk of COVID-19 infection does not differ by nationality. Public health measures that single out or separate people because they are foreign must stop immediately.
  • Build human-rights-based public health policy: Guidelines that protect every member of the community equally must be established.
  • Do not exclude any group: Leaving any group out of the public health system actually makes it harder to stop the spread of infection. Effective public health only works when everyone is included.
  • Prevent recurrence: Institutional safeguards must be put in place so that discriminatory administrative orders like these are not repeated.

What Changed Afterward

Following sustained criticism, the Seoul Metropolitan Government withdrew its mandatory testing administrative order for migrant workers and downgraded the requirement from “mandatory” to “recommended.” The scope was also narrowed from “all foreign workers” to “workers at high-risk workplaces.” However, migrant rights organizations pointed out that singling out workplaces that employ migrants still did not address the fundamental structure of discrimination.

Rights Worth Knowing as a Migrant

Current public health policies related to COVID-19 may change depending on the situation. If you experience discrimination or unfair treatment related to public health measures, you can reach out to the following:

  • National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK): Call 1331 (weekdays 09:00-18:00), NHRCK website
  • Immigration Contact Center (1345): Call 1345 (open year-round, multilingual support available)
  • Korea Immigration Service: Contact your local Korea Immigration Service office directly

Please check with 1345 or your local Korea Immigration Service office for the most up-to-date details on specific figures, deadlines, and procedures before taking any action.