National Human Rights Commission of Korea Annual Report 2019 G. ‌Recommendation to redress human rights violations caused by notice of non-recognition of refugee status provided without translation On August 8, the Commission recommended the Minister of Justice to revise the regulations pertaining to notice of non-recognition of refugee status so that it can be issued in a language that is understandable to refugee status applicants, as this is an essential guarantee of applicants’ procedural rights. As of April 2018, out of a total of 484 Yemeni asylum seekers, 467 were denied refugee status. refugee status in the Arabic language that Yemenis can understand is an infringement upon the Following an investigation, the petition was dismissed because the damages could not be characterized and it was found that the Ministry of Justice did not violate the procedural rights of asylum seekers. However, revision of the relevant regulations was deemed necessary because, under the Refugee Act, notices of non-recognition of refugee status are intended to ensure refugee status applicants easy access to remedial procedures such as appeal and litigation. In a previous opinion regarding the proposed amendment to the Refugee Act, which was passed on February 14, specifically in relation to paragraph 2 of Article 45-2, which provides that interpretation can be provided when issuing notices of non-recognition of refugee status, the Commission had recommended that the notice be issued as a “translated” document, and not with a one-time “interpretation” that can be controversial in terms of accuracy, so that refugee status applicants be made sufficiently aware of and be guaranteed their procedural rights,. The Ministry of Justice accepted part of the Commission’s recommendations and replied that the notices of non-recognition of refugee status would be made available in the languages of countries with a large number of applications (Arabic, Russian, Chinese, and French) and that some other languages could be considered in the future. However, it was also of the position that the provision of translation, and not interpretation, of the “specific reasons for non-recognition” in languages that applicants can understand should be cautiously reviewed considering the legal basis, budgetary requirement, and the fact that applicants come from more than 50 countries. 37 Key Activities right to know of Yemeni asylum seekers. Part 2 A petition was filed with the Commission that failure to provide notices of non-recognition of