Assistance Project for Migrant Workers and Other Vulnerable Groups since 2005, the
program limits eligibility to children whose parents can provide documented work history.
Thus children whose parents either have no work history or unable to provide document in
fear of having to expose their identities are left out of the program’s benefit.
Accordingly, the Commission recommended the Minister of Health and Welfare to
implement measures to grant undocumented migrant children better access to medical
services including expanding the scope of eligibility, increasing the number of
participating medical facilities, securing stable flow of budget, and revising application
regulations such as the Medical Care Assistance Act and the National Basic Living
Security Act to grant eligibility for the National Medical Insurance. (December 12, 2011)
The Commission also recommended the Minister of Justice to implement a measure to
promote the 2010 initiative of the Ministry of Justice that excludes medical care providers
from ‘responsibility of government officers to report undocumented foreigners’ stipulated
by the Immigration Control Act. The Commission recommended the Ministry of Justice in
2010 to grant undocumented migrant children the right to education, and the Ministry
responded by saying that they would recognize doctors of public health centers, the
Commission’s officials, and labors supervisors of the Ministry of Employment and Labor
in addition to education officials such as teachers as a group of government officials
exempted from the reporting responsibility. But the Commission further recommended the
Ministry to notify such decisions more effectively to staff of public medical institutions
since there seems lack of awareness and promotion.
7) Establishment and Recommendation: Guidelines on Human Rights of Migrants
The Commission established the Guidelines on Human Rights of Migrants to guide
immigration policies of the government in greater reflection of human rights. Then the
Commission recommended it to 10 government agencies including the Prime Minister’s
Office and the Ministry of Justice. (December 29, 2011)
With a dramatic increase in migrant workers and married migrant women whose
Chapter 3. Investigations and Remedies: Civil Rights Violations
93