Home / News / Urgent Appeals / SOUTH KOREA: Solidarity needed in support of a people's tribunal on the Yongsan deaths

SOUTH KOREA: Solidarity needed in support of a people's tribunal on the Yongsan deaths

September 29, 2009

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-130-2009



29 September 2009
---------------------------------------------------------------------
SOUTH KOREA: Solidarity needed in support of a people's tribunal on the Yongsan deaths

ISSUES: Forced eviction; fair trial; due process
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that human rights activists in South Korea will hold a people's tribunal on October 18, 2009 regarding the deaths of five men. The five protested against a forced eviction and burned to death during an agressive dispersal operation by the police. No officers have so far been held accountable, whereas protestors have already been prosecuted and are undergoing court proceedings.

The fairness of the trial is in doubt due to the behaviour of the prosecution, which has not shared the investigation report with defense lawyers despite an order to do so from the court. In response, rights defenders have organised a people's tribunal and the AHRC asks that you show your solidarity by sending a message of support to its preparatory committee.

CASE DETAILS: 

 

Eight months after the deaths of five protestors and a police officer during a disproportionately aggressive police operation, the dead bodies of the victims are still being kept in freezers, and no person in authority has been held accountable. Please see the case history at FUA-001-2009 and the subsequent handing of the case at STM-137-2009. Please also refer to urgent appeals (1, 2, 3) sent by rights groups in South Korea to UN special rapporteurs on adequate housing.

Civilians have started to doubt that the accused will be subject to a fair trial, and confidence is being lost in the system of justice and in those such as the police, prosecution and the judiciary, who are meant to uphold it. Such is the reason for the October people's tribunal.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

An hour-long documentary on this incident has been made and was shown at the 13th Seoul Human Rights Film Festival in January 2009.

In the film the director examines the lives and predicaments of people forced to leave their homes at Sangdo 4-dong, Wangshibni 1 district, Yongsan4ga-dong, due to the thoughtless development plans of landowners and construction companies. They include Pal-Kyu Shin, a resident of Sangdo 4-dong, Dongjak-gu, who wanted to leave along with his neighbours but couldn't afford to rent a house, and Sang-Lim Lee, who was killed during the demonstration. Lee owned a pub in Yongsan4ga-dong, Yongsan-gu and had banded together with other store tenants to fight their eviction by the landowners, from a makeshift watchtower at the top of an empty building. Through his portrayal the director asks who really benefits from such 'redevelopment plans' – many, or just a chosen few.

The film is originally in Korean and has English subtitles, and can be downloaded and shared – copyright lifted – from here in two versions: 960MB and 360MB. DVDs are available from the film director at win0601@naver.com.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

You can send an email message of support to the preparatory committee by clicking here:

If you have queries, please feel free to contact the committee directly by email (court@jinbo.net) or by fax (+82 31 215 4395). A sample letter has been attached for your use.

--------------------------------------------------
SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear Preparatory Committee members,

SOUTH KOREA: I strongly support a tribunal to expose issues afflicting redevelopment projects and promote public discourse

I am writing to support the people's tribunal on the Yongsan incident, to be held on 18 October 2009 in Seoul, South Korea.

I am informed that five men and one policeman were killed in a fire during the forced dispersal by the police on January 20, 2009, but that as of now no police have been held accountable, even though other protesters have been prosecuted.

I am disturbed by the systemic flaws that have allowed no action to be taken to address this, and for the prosecution in the case to ignore an important court order. The case is being pursued as if no flaws have ever existed, and this has expedited the loss of the people's trust in the judiciary.

Furthermore I have learned that Yongsan is not the only one area designated for such so-called redevelopment projects, but that several other areas have faced the same problems: exposure to extreme violence by thugs related to the demolition, or by the police, and a denial and deprival of the rights to life and adequate housing.

Under these circumstances it is entirely necessary that a people's tribunal be held to expose the flaws in the justice system and in the whole process of redevelopment, and to start proper public discourse.

I hope that the tribunal will explore issued both in Yongsan and beyond, in other areas afflicted by such thoughtless redevelopment.

Yours sincerely,

----

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-130-2009
Countries :
Issues :
Document Actions
Share |
Subscribe to our Mailing List
Follow AHRC
Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.