Part 2. Stronger protection of human rights of migrants
married to Koreans
Although the government’s multicultural policy is implemented with focus on
migrants married to Koreans, international human rights organizations have expressed
continuous concern about the human rights situation of migrants married to Koreans.
At present, the number of migrants married to Koreans stands at 211,458, including
those naturalized through marriage. This accounts for 16.7% of all aliens in the
country. The marriage brokerage structure, which is prone to human rights
infringement and problem of migrant women exposed to domestic violence, has
emerged as a serious social issue.
The Multicultural Families Support Act leaves a lot to be desired concerning the
guarantee of solid legal status (status of sojourn) for migrants married to Koreans, which
is needed to improve their human rights situation. It has also been pointed out that said
law does not cover many migrants since it defines its scope of coverage as a family
consisting of an immigrant by marriage and a person who acquired Korean nationality.
In 2007, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
expressed concern about the following situation in Republic of Korea: increase of
international marriages prone to human rights infringement, widespread domestic
violence, lack of practical remedies against spousal violence, instability with regard to
the status of sojourn during the period of remedial procedure, etc. In 2011, said committee
proposed the following to the South Korean government: measures taken to prevent
domestic violence and removal of all discriminatory clauses regarding requirements for
obtaining Korean nationality, such as identification reference from the Korean spouse
Part 2. Stronger protection of human rights of migrants married to Koreans
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