Mandatory HIV Testing for Foreign Nationals in the Republic of Korea: Human Rights Violations and Bad Public Health Policy

HIV-based legal and policy discrimination persists around the world. Many countries have overt HIV-related travel and immigration restrictions; others allow in-country policies to persist that violate their international human rights commitments. Such restrictions have been universally acknowledged as ineffective public health policy and a violation of human rights.

The Republic of Korea (ROK, or South Korea) has committed to ending discrimination against HIV and, in 2012, announced that it had eliminated all HIV-specific travel restrictions. However, official policies and widespread employment practices directly contradict this. Verification of HIV-negative status is officially required to obtain and renew E-2 (English teaching) visas, and other immigrants are often compelled to test by their employers as well. Those who test positive are immediately detained and deported. Several individuals have challenged ROK’s anti-HIV policies with mixed success. Most recently, a New Zealand national filed a complaint in 2012 with the UN CERD after legal challenges within ROK failed; the ruling will be delivered this May.

This presentation will examine the history of legal and policy-based HIV discrimination against foreign nationals in the ROK against the backdrop of an exceptionally conservative society which is largely ignorant of HIV and places a high value on racial purity and blood nationalism. It will analyze the impact of these policies on public health and the spread of HIV in ROK, with a particular emphasis on the dearth of epidemiological research of HIV transmission and infection rates among foreigners. Finally, it will discuss the UN CERD ruling, and how this and future advocacy efforts might be used to improve policies and combat discrimination targeting HIV in ROK.