An independent human rights body called on the government Monday to overhaul the existing law on immigration to prevent children of immigrants living here illegally from being deported without due regard to their right to education.

The National Human Rights Commission made the request to Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn after a 17-year-old boy surnamed Kim from Mongolia was forcibly repatriated to his home country last November, a move condemned by human rights activists as a violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that calls on governments to make education free and accessible to all children.

After interrogating him for mediating a fight between his classmates at a Seoul high school, police found that Kim had been staying illegally in South Korea.

The Mongolian student, who had attended the high school under a Korean alias, was subsequently sent to the immigration service, but his teacher was not notified of his detainment there, the NHRC said.

The police also failed to consider the kind of protection he would be entitled to in Mongolia in making the decision to deport him just four days later, the commission added.

“Children of illegal immigrants, including those that live with their parents, are forced to leave the country once their illegal status is revealed,” an NHRC official said. “We have asked the government to stop deporting these children, which violates their right to education as stated in the U.N. Convention.” (Yonhap News)