On March 2nd, despite the filibuster of the opposition party and the opposition of 300,000 citizens for nine days, the ‘Anti-Terrorism Act’ was enacted. Even though many civil society groups were concerned that state agencies could receive personal information only through ‘doubt’ in the name of preventing terrorism, limiting and infringing on people’s freedom and basic rights.
Rather than improving the National Intelligence Service, which has already revealed various problems, such as political intervention or information manipulation, or taking measures to prevent recurrence, the current situation has made it possible to give the authority to collect and manage more excessive information in the name of preventing terrorism. It is difficult to understand conceptually.
Many people are not aware of it, but on the same day, the ‘Amendment to the Immigration Control Act’ passed the National Assembly Judiciary Committee. Many civil society organizations have consistently raised the issue of the Immigration Control Act and the excessive abuse of administrative power by the Immigration Office.
Problems such as having to leave the country or being detained in a shelter because the immigration office does not issue or extend a visa based on suspicion, not on clear grounds, have been consistently pointed out. Rather than trying to correct those practices and behaviors, they are trying to change the law to make it more abusive.
In particular, Immigration officials raided the factory without a warrant, and in the process of cracking down on undocumented residents like rabbits, numerous casualties occurred.
In 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that “in order to investigate a foreigner entering a third party’s residence or a workplace where the public is not allowed free entry, it would be necessary to obtain the prior consent of the owner or manager of the residence.
However, the Ministry of Justice intends to amend the law to crack down on migrant workers by entering private land without a warrant, and to impose a fine of up to 10 million won for those who interfere. In addition, a new provision has been added that allows for deportation of those who submit various false data during the visa application process. There are concerns about excessive punishment that does not take into account the seriousness of the content of ‘false data’, the reason for submission and the process, and human rights violations resulting therefrom.
Above all, this bill requires immigration officials to provide information on criminal and investigation history to relevant organizations without the consent of the subject of information, including passport issuance, resident registration, family relationship registration, business registration, vehicle registration, customs offender information, and tax payment certificate information. , made it possible to request the provision of vast amounts of information.
After many human rights groups raised the issue, the clause that could crack down on private land without a warrant and consent was deleted, but the rest of the toxic clauses were passed.
As I watched the process of enactment of the Anti-Terrorism Act and the passage of the Immigration Control Act amendment bill, various thoughts came to mind. Human rights violations against non-citizens have already been committed in the process of immigration control. A consensus on the rights of people who are not considered to be ‘citizens’ has not been formed. As such, they have not been able to purify violent practices and systems. Perhaps the anti-terrorism law could be enacted as an extension of that.
Real people who need to be protected, fake people who threaten people’s safety, and foreigners. The concern that the standards and process would be unfair and arbitrary is what history has shown. It was the soil that allowed violence for a long time.