Part 4. Stronger protection of human rights of refugees and stateless people The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993, Item 5 of said declaration stipulates that “it is the duty of States, regardless of their political, economic, and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedom. Refugees and stateless people are more vulnerable as victims of human rights infringement than other types of victims since they are in countries that have the duty to promote and protect human rights or they do not have a home country where their fundamental rights are protected. Note, however, that Republic of Korea has recorded a lower percentage of accepting refugees compared to other major countries; the country’s level of fairness or transparency with regard to the refugee status recognition procedure is said to be far from satisfactory. It has been pointed out that the social treatment of refugee applicants and admitted refugees in the country falls short of that stipulated by the Convention related to the Status of Refugees (CRSR) and other international human rights treaties. Moreover, even though the country ratified the Convention related to the Status of Stateless Persons, it still lacks the system and process for identifying legally stateless persons. Therefore, it is not aware of the scale and outline of their situation. NHRCK has made recommendations on the need for improvement of the human rights situation of refugees and stateless people as follows: improvement of the policy for the protection of refugees’ human rights (2006); protection of human rights of people granted the status of sojourn on humanitarian grounds (2008); allowance for living/economic activities to those aliens with a pending case on appeal in court against Part 4. Stronger protection of human rights of refugees and stateless people 53