Discrimination against people affected by leprosy (Hansen

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Discrimination against people affected by leprosy
(Hansens Disease) in Korea

• SANG KWON JUNG, IDEA KOREA

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• STATE OF HANSENS DISEASE (HD) IN KOREA
• HISTORY OF HD IN KOREA
• WHAT WE ARE DOING TO HELP

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THE STATE OF HD IN KOREA
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• Medical Aspect
• 12 New patients (Jan 2008present) the disease
  itself does not pose a contagious risk

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• Economic Aspect
• People once affected by Hansens Diseases are
  achieving economic independence through farming
  activities

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• Social Aspect
• Discrimination from society is continuing
• According to the 2005 report titled The Report
  of the state of Human Rights of people affected
  by Hansens Disease, it is evident that
  prejudice exists

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• Would you use facilities such as public bath
  houses and hairdressers if they were also used by
  people affected by Hansens Disease?
• 19.6 I would use it
• 50.8 I wouldnt want to use it very much
• 28.1 I would never use it

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• If a family member were to marry a person
  affected by HD, what would you do?
• 7.1 I would accept them
• 86.7 I would disagree with it
• 6.2 I dont know / No response

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THE HISTORY OF HD IN KOREA
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The Forced Isolation Era (19131963)

• 13921897
• Discrimination against people with HD has been
  recorded since the Joeson Dynasty
• 19101945
• During the Japanese occupation of Korea, medical
  reasons were used to spread institutional
  discrimination and exclusion nationwide

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The Forced Isolation Era (19131963)

• 1913
• Forced isolation was initiated, but the goal of
  isolation was not for medical treatment but to
  limit infection
• Patients did not receive appropriate treatment
  and were forced into labor, and the mortality of
  patients was very high as a result

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The Forced Isolation Era (19131963)

• In addition, social prejudice about the disease
  became more widespread and gained legitimacy
  through medical authorities

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• It can be reasoned that these policies were
  substantial in influencing the mass murder of HD
  patients throughout Korea by civilians in the
  1950s

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MASS MURDER OF HD PATIENTS
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• Between 1945 and 1957, over 300 HD patients were
  murdered by hospital workers, police, army and
  civilians over 11 incidents

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• Aug, 1945
• Sorok Island Hospital Incident
• Workers of the hospital feared losing control to
  HD patients, and 84 patients were murdered as a
  result

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• The Memorial Monument for 84 people who were
  murdered
• at Sorok Island

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• June, 1947
• An-dong Child Abduction Suspect Incident
• 3 HD patients suspected of abducting a child were
  murdered by police officers without due process

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• Sep, 1949
• Mu-an Incident
• While attempting to quell violence after a prison
  escape, 40 people affected by HD living nearby
  were murdered

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• 19501953
• Incidents during the Korean War
• The South and North Korean army, police, and due
  to communism, around 150 HD patients were
  murdered over 7 incidents

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• Aug, 1957
• Sa-chon Bi-to-ri Incident
• To preserve food supplies, residents of an island
  ambushed and attacked HD patients living on the
  island, resulting in 30 deaths and tens of injured

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Relative Isolation Era (1963-present)

• Enactment of resettlement village policies
• Korea abolished forced isolation policies, and
  made it possible for people affected by HD to
  become economically independent in resettlement
  villages, called the Resettlement Village Policy

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Relative Isolation Era (1963-present)

• It is recognized that HD is not highly contagious
  but the isolation policy was also a product of
  the fact that the Korean Government did not have
  resources to accommodate people in appropriate
  facilities

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Relative Isolation Era (1963-present)

• Also, it was hoped that if they achieved economic
  independence, prejudice about them would
  decrease, so they achieved economic independence
  through farming activities

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Relative Isolation Era (1963-present)

• However, the socially embedded prejudice and
  discrimination against people affected by HD
  continued to persist
• As a result, resettlement villages constructed
  after the abolishment of forced isolation
  policies had the effect of limiting true social
  reintegration

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DISCRIMINATION RELATED TO HD IN KOREA
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Institutional Discrimination

• Sterilization and Abortion
• Sterilization and abortion practices from the
  Japanese occupation which persisted after
  liberation
• According to an annual report by the Sorok Island
  Hospital in 1958, 1,191 HD patients received
  sterilization procedures from 1949 to 1958

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• The sterilization operation room at Sorok Island

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Institutional Discrimination

• Forced separation of children from HD patients
• Even if HD patients were able to have a child,
  they were not allowed to live together and had to
  be sent to a state institution

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• Children separated from their parents

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Institutional Discrimination

• Forced Isolation and Relocation
• The policy of forcibly placing HD patients in
  isolation was carried over from the Japanese
  occupation, and even after liberation, was
  continued by the Korean government until the
  1980s

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Institutional Discrimination

• Forced isolation and forced relocation
• Despite the rehabilitation village system being
  established in 1963, the national policy was to
  force people affected by HD into Sorok Island
• The policy remained in effect until 2005

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Discrimination in the Media

• There have been public messages spreading
  prejudice and fear about HD from the beginning of
  the Japanese occupation
• This continued even after liberation, and because
  of this people affected by HD face prejudice on a
  regular basis

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Discrimination in the Media

• Such messages portrayed the HD community to be a
  dangerous threat to society and favored forced
  isolation of HD patients
• In the 1990s, a rumor placed the responsibility
  of kidnappings in the city of Daegu on people
  affected by HD, causing great harm to the people
  affected by HD in the community

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(No Transcript)
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Discrimination from Society

• Discrimination in the school system
• There have been incidents across South Korea
  where parents have refused to have their children
  attend schools with children of people affected
  by HD during the 1970s

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Discrimination from Society

• Discrimination in hiring practices
• If a candidate is known to have HD, it becomes
  extremely difficult to obtain the position

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Discrimination from Society

• O-mado land reclamation incident
• A land reclamation project was started, to enable
  people affected by HD to have self sufficient
  food supplies, but because of protest and action
  from local residents and politicians, the land
  from the project was expropriated

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• O-mado land reclamation project

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Discrimination from Society

• Difficulties using public facilities
• Many people affected by HD have the experience of
  being refused entry into public bath houses,
  hairdressers, and restaurants

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EFFORTS TO COMBAT DISCRIMINATION
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• Change of Terminology
• There has been a continuing effort to alter the
  terminology, and in December 1999, at a general
  meeting of the Korean National Assembly, a matter
  was passed to use the term Hansens Disease
  instead of the term leprosy

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• Change of Terminology
• After this, there was an effort to monitor the
  abasement or the use of false information
  regarding people affected by HD

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• Investigation of the human rights of people
  affected by HD
• National-level investigation of the human rights
  violation of people affected by HD for the first
  time in 2005

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• Establishment of the special law for HD patients
• In 2007, a special law protecting the human
  rights of HD patients was passed through the
  National Assembly of the Republic of Korea

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• Coming out
• People affected by HD who were active in society
  began to express their experience of having the
  disease
• An example is Mr. Doo Sung Lim who received
  recognition for services to improving the human
  rights of people affected by HD in 2008 and was
  elected as an assembly man of the Republick of
  Korea

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CONCLUSION
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• As a result, there is a need to develop tools to
  uproot the prejudice and discrimination against
  people affected by HD
• There are continuing efforts to develop an array
  of such tools in Korea to change social
  perceptions

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• The medical and institutional issues around HD
  have been largely resolved
• The prejudice and discrimination in common
  society is deeply rooted
• Because of this, the true social reintegration of
  people affected by HD is still far off

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End