Letter Writing #1

February 20, 2008

Minister Song Min-soon,
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
37 Sejong (Doryeom-dong),
Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-787,
Republic of Korea

Dear Minister Song Min-soon,

I am a student from Taejon Christian International School in South Korea, and I am a member of our student Amnesty International group; we gather together to protect the human rights of people at risk of, or experiencing, injustice.
We are very concerned about human trafficking, the act of trading people for business that often involves the sale of women for the purposes of prostitution. Women and children are transported abroad, by the means of force, and many are abused and live in harsh situations.
In South Korea, there are instances of foreign and Korean women being bought and sold like products. This occurs in large cities like Seoul, as well as smaller centers. As young people studying in this country, we want to speak out for these mistreated people.
In the UN Declaration of Human Rights it says in article 2: “Everyone is entitled to all rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” And article 5 states: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruelty, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” All people should be protected by the law.
We ask for your support in stopping the practice of human trafficking in South Korea. Please consider drafting legislation to address this issue, and to uphold the basic human rights of all individuals in this country.

Sincerely,