The U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances expressed concerns Friday over South Korean victims having to prove their suffering from hazardous substances at workplaces.
Baskut Tuncak has been in Seoul since Oct. 12 at the invitation of the South Korean government to monitor and assess steps taken by the government to protect people from hazardous substances and wastes.
“During the course of my visit, I have observed the unjust burden placed on hundreds of victims by the legal system to establish causation,” Tuscak said in a press conference as he released a preliminary report of his two-week visit.
The lawyer-turned-environment expert further noted the vulnerability of workers in the electronic sector.
“The burden of proof by the government on victims is so great that only three former Samsung Electronics workers out of 67, or 4.5 percent, have been able to establish causation in order to gain some degree of compensation,” he said.
In November 2014, a Seoul court ordered the government to compensate a woman who died of a brain tumor after working at a Samsung Electronics Co. plant, recognizing her as an industrial disaster victim as her death was linked to the plant’s work environment.
“Many workers of Samsung Electronics have fallen victim to priorities that place profits before human rights,” the rapporteur said.
Tuncak also showed concerns for a committee created by the company to negotiate with other victims of industrial disasters, saying that the mediation process does not represent victims’ interests well.
“The unilateral decision to establish an internal compensation committee within Samsung Electronics without any indication of how prevention will be addressed does not reflect well,” he said.
The rapporteur also mentioned that 140 people died and over 500 were injured after purchasing and using a humidifier disinfectant that contained hazardous substances.
Following the deaths of a number of pregnant women and infants from lung-related diseases in 2011, a government probe team found there was a strong connection between the sterilizers used in household humidifiers and the deaths. The government later banned the sale of four types of germicides widely used to sterilize humidifiers.
He, however, said he is pleased that there were several positive developments, including taking steps toward improving the management of hazardous substances, through the recently enacted Act on Registration, Evaluation of Chemical Substances.
“Although necessary steps should not wait for a tragedy to unfold and the victims still not have been offered a solution for their loss of life, morbidity or the death of their loves ones, it is a positive development, and I command the government for taking such step.” he said.
More details of the analysis, the assessment of the situation and recommendations in the report will be submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council in September 2016, the rapporteur said. (Yonhap)
