UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 43) To tackle prejudice and discrimination against single-parent families, schools at all levels provide education on single-parent families and educate relevant officials on building up expertise on the matter. Furthermore, the Single-Parent Family Support Act was amended in 2016, which sets forth the principle of non-discrimination against children from single-parent families, when caring and educating children. The Government organizes the awareness campaign on single-parent families, while supporting teen fathers and teen mothers by means of additional child support subsidies, education subsidies to prevent academic suspension, and subsidies to support their financial independence. The Government also legislated the Act on Enforcing and Supporting Child Support Payment in 2014 to enable single parents with minor children to receive child support from noncustodial parents. The Child Support Agency was established in 2015 to offer a one-stop service covering consultations, negotiations, litigation and collection, and follow-up management.

National Report:
Para 50) The universal birth registration requires mandatory birth reporting upon the birth of a child. The birth of a child of foreign nationals born in the Republic of Korea shall be registered in accordance with the laws of their countries even in cases where the parents are undocumented migrants. Children born to refugees can be registered as foreigners if they submit birth certificate issued by a hospital. The Act on the Registration, etc. of Family Relation was amended in May 2016 to allow a prosecutor or the head of a local government to report a child’s birth if the persons who are obligated to report fails to do and jeopardizes the child’s welfare.

UN Compilation:
Para 15) Noting the universal periodic review recommendation on a birth registration system, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that the birth registration system failed to ensure universal and compulsory birth registration and that foreigners whose children had been born in the country were not able to register their children through the family register, although their children might receive a birth notification document from the hospital.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 23) JS2 stated that the Government has refused to register births of children of foreign nationals. The parents might register the birth of their child through the embassies of their countries. However, refugees were often reluctant to approach the embassies to register the birth of their child.