Refugees celebrate 76th Human Rights Day in Seoul

By Bereket Alemayehu

Refugees in Korea celebrated the 76th Human Rights Day in commemoration of the anniversary of one of the world's most important global documents, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on Dec. 10, 1948.

Co-organized by Migration to Asia Peace (MAP), a local nonprofit organization, and Kyungdong Presbyterian Church in central Seoul, the day was marked with a panel talk titled "Dialogue with Refugees," featuring Koreans engaging with 13 refugees from 11 countries on Dec. 9.

MAP was founded in 2015 to raise awareness about the issue of involuntary migration and to advocate for concrete solutions at the grassroots level. Its activities are aimed at healing and restoring the lives of individuals, families and communities that were destroyed or otherwise harmed by involuntary migration.

Kim Young-ah, executive director of MAP, told The Korea Times that the "Dialogue with Refugees" event series has been her organization's most successful project to promote refugee rights and diversity, aiming to spread a better understanding of refugees throughout Korean society.

“It was started in 2019 as the Human Library project, as we felt the need to create a space where refugees, asylum seekers and citizens can meet together to have mutual dialogue, to just break the wall and in the end to increase mutual understanding. But because of the Human Library title, people expected to listen to refugee stories and ask questions, and Koreans didn't have a chance to share their own life stories, experiences and thoughts. It was not mutual. We changed this project name last year," she said.

She added that the organization is looking for more opportunities for meaningful dialogue and conversations with people from different walks of life in Korea to advance refugee issues here.

For panelist Zahra Baalawi, a Yemeni refugee, social activist and YouTuber, the event was significant as she fled her home country with her two children because of the ongoing civil war in Yemen that devastated civilian lives. However, even in Korea, her social activism has repercussions and struggles in the community when it comes to speaking up for women's rights.

Another Korean panelist, Kim Ho, executive secretary at Global Diaspora Multicultural Coaching Network, is a professional counselor working for the nonprofit organization to boost the mental health and wellness of foreigners, refugees and intercultural community members in Korea.

“Human rights are the basic rights of every human being. Today's event is very important in terms of sharing these values. In particular, not every Korean knows about refugees or their human rights. But if we can share some common sense or at least background knowledge about refugees, this is the starting point," Kim Ho said.

"The important lesson of today's event was that we need to expand our view of human rights in Korea. And sometimes, when we talk about human rights to Koreans, they answer that, oh, we care about the human rights of military, workers and political issues. But all of them are about Koreans only. That’s a very narrow view about it. Human rights are not only for Koreans but universal. So, it's time to expand our sight to not only Korean communities but also the international communities, too.”

Oh Se-han, a leader of the church's youth department, mentioned that Jesus was a refugee.

When asked if such kind of events in churches would help with refugees' rights in Korea, he said, “I think it makes a huge difference between not knowing who refugees are, not meeting them in person. And here we can hear them, what kind of situations they are in, who they are and how they came to Korea.”

For Haitian refugee Jean Baptiste Remelus, events like this help him to meet Koreans and share stories of what’s happening in his home country, which has been ravaged by political instability and gang violence. He has lived for over five years in Korea. Before coming here as a refugee, he worked as a social worker and supervisor of community health workers at organizations such as the American Red Cross.

Afghan refugee Mohammadi Mohammad Naiem, who works in MAP as a finance and office assistant, came to Korea in 2018 to study for his master’s degree in engineering but sought asylum because of conflicts in Afghanistan. On the day’s event, he commented that he found it fantastic having meaningful dialogues with other refugees related to his rights as well as all human beings.

Visit mapcast.org for more information.

Bereket Alemayehu is an Ethiopian photo artist, social activist and writer based in Seoul. He's also the co-founder of Hanokers, a refugee-led social initiative and freelance contributor for Pressenza Press Agency.