It was nice to see Jasmine Lee talk to the Filipinas who attended the “Multiculturalism in Korea: Policy Direction for the Filipino Marriage Migrant” hosted by the Philippine Embassy. She was there at 2 PM, although she was scheduled to talk at 3:30 PM for ten minutes only to give the closing remarks. She said that she would need at least three hours to talk about the government’s policies on multicultural families. Hopefully, the Philippine Embassy could host another forum wherein Jasmine Lee would be the main speaker to talk about those policies.
In the meantime, the press in Korea has released information about a bill that Jasmine Lee is authoring on “undocumented children”. Her advocacy is mainly children, as evidenced by the update on “Child Abuse Law” that she introduced. Hopefully, the general populace would welcome this bill but since this is something new, it might be met with some resistance.
Last year, when Jasmine Lee filed the bill to help typhoon Yolanda victims, the netizens reacted negatively with some questioning which country she is a congressman of. However, most of the congressmen signed the bill without any qualms and the criticisms stopped.
Rep. Lee Jasmine of the ruling Saenuri Party is drafting a bill to provide thousands of undocumented foreign children with health insurance and other essential benefits.
“These children are officially non-existent, although they may have been born here, speak Korean and go to Korean schools,†Lee, the first non-ethnic Korean lawmaker, told The Korea Times. “In some cases, they are repatriated to their parents’ country.â€
“The main point (of the bill) is to allow them to be registered…so their fundamental rights are guaranteed,†the Philippines-born lawmaker said.
Read the full article.
This bill will guarantee the universal rights of children that they be given the protection and assistance they need without discrimination. South Korea is a signatory on the “Convention of the Rights of the Child”.