Ministry of Justice to Hold Policy Committee Meeting Today... Deliberation on Introducing 'Foreign Child Birth Registration System'

The Ministry of Justice Policy Committee video conference held on the 15th. / Photo by the Ministry of Justice

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] On the 15th, the Ministry of Justice held its first Policy Committee meeting (Chairman Kim Seon-wook) since the inauguration of Minister Park Beom-gye as a non-face-to-face video conference to deliberate on the introduction of the 'Foreign Children Birth Registration System.'

The Ministry of Justice Policy Committee, established under the Ministry of Justice Ordinance 'Regulations on the Ministry of Justice Policy Committee,' serves as an advisory body to the Minister of Justice on the operation of justice administration.

Before the meeting, Minister Park said in his opening remarks, "I ask for concrete discussions so that foreign children left in the blind spots of human rights can be protected," and added, "I will do my best to establish policies that can realize 'justice of coexistence' and 'justice administration that supports people's livelihoods' by keenly listening to the voices of the public and the field."

The special bill the Ministry of Justice is promoting aims to protect foreign children born in Korea to foreign parents who are in special circumstances such as parents being undocumented or naturalizing after birth, making birth registration impossible, by registering the birth domestically to prove their identity.

Under current law, ▲children born when the parents' stay status has been revoked or the stay period has expired, ▲children born to migrant women who entered through marriage but divorced and lived as undocumented residents, ▲children born out of wedlock to foreign women who later naturalized, etc., cannot be registered at birth under current law and have been left in social risks and human rights blind spots without any legal status.

It is estimated that there are over 20,000 undocumented foreign children in Korea, but due to difficulties in conducting detailed surveys, the exact number is unknown.

Article 7 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states, "The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality, and, as far as possible, to know and be cared for by his or her parents."

In November 2018, the Ministry of Justice held a forum on the introduction of the birth registration system and, from December of the same year, formed an 'Advisory Group for the Implementation of the Birth Registration System' composed of child-related researchers and field experts to promote the enactment of a special law.

The Ministry of Justice stated, "We will actively reflect the results of the Policy Committee deliberations and the requests of the policy members in policy promotion, and by promptly introducing the 'Foreign Children Birth Registration System,' we will establish an institutional safety net to protect children's human rights and strive to make the country a happy place for children."