Urine tests a step too far

A battle is being waged in South Korea between those who believe that schools should be allowed to go to just about any lengths to discover whether students have been smoking, and those who believe that it is necessary to protect the human rights of teenagers.

According to a story in The Korea Herald, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) issued a warning after a high-school teacher in Incheon reportedly forced a male student to urinate into a paper cup in front of the teacher so that the urine could be tested.

Following the alleged incident, which was said to have occurred in October last year, the student filed a complaint with the NHRCK.

He claimed that it was a violation of his human rights to treat him like a criminal by forcing him to take a urine test.

But it seems as though it was the manner in which the urine sample was obtained that was at issue because the school said that such a process was necessary to prevent students from mixing their urine with water so as not to get caught.

The school, which promotes anti-smoking programs, is said to have taken various measures to curb teenage smoking. It allows urine tests to be conducted with a student’s consent when the student is suspected of smoking in school.

But what is meant by consent is at issue too. “The human rights of students must be better respected during smoking crackdown[s] and anti-smoking measures,’ the NHRCK was quoted as saying. ‘Although the school says it has conducted the test upon their consent, the consent itself is unlikely to have been voluntary.’

The Incheon Metropolitan City Office of Education recommended that schools use a carbon monoxide measuring instrument for smoking tests rather than urine tests after a similar incident occurred in another school in the city in 2013.