미등록 이주아동 의료접근권에 관한 고찰

Abstract

The National Assembly of South Korea ratified many treaties e.g. Universal Declaration of Human Rights; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; Convention on the Rights of the Child. South Korea government must protects the Human Rights of Migrant Children according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which applies regardless of nationality. Because the Convention on the Rights of the Child specifically protects the rights of all children in its first chapter. And this specification can be interpreted as a protection of the right to health care for undocumented children in particular. Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that “States Parties recognise the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.”But, in South Korea, undocumented children face considerable obstacles to accessing health care. Their physical and mental health is apt to worsen because of poor access to health care services and the continual fear of being discovered and expelled. Undocumented children encounter similar difficulties in accessing a high standard of health care, in terms of bureaucratic impediments, a lack of adequate information and the fear of being caught. Undocumented children are the oppressed, persecuted, powerless minorities of our society. Protecting the right to access of undocumented children is the moral obligation as well as the legal liability of all civilized countries. When many people act politically to counter policies restricting the right to health care of undocumented children on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, South Korea government can make strides towards providing undocumented children with equal access to health services on the Convention on the Rights of the Child.