The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) carried out a two-day human rights counseling tour for Jeju Island residents in front of Jeju City Hall and in the yard of the Seogwipo Hall of Youth on May 31 and June 1.
The NHRCK"s latest visit to the island served as a prime opportunity for on-site meetings with its residents through counseling given that since the establishment of the Commission there had been few programs in which the NHRCK encountered residents in an open setting.
The two-day counseling tour mainly targeted vulnerable social groups and social minorities on the island, i.e. women, persons with disabilities, migrant workers and homeless people. Many other island residents visited the touring team seeking counseling regarding their problems.
More than ten counselors, including investigation officers of the Commission, specialized counselors and attorneys-at-law, served on the touring team, which provided comprehensive counseling services for various human rights issues confronted by islanders in daily life.
The NHRCK began its human rights counseling tour in 2003 with a view to offering counseling services to vulnerable social groups and social minorities who are suffering in the dead zone of human rights and are rarely able to visit the NHRCK in person. It conducted on-site counseling in Cheongju in 2004, and on Sorok Island (home to a number of Hansen"s disease patients) and Chilgok, North Gyeongsang Province in 2005. In 2006, the NHRCK procured a bus for its counseling tour and visited migrant workers, aged persons and people residing in mental health facilities as well as residents in Jangseong, South Jeolla Province, and Masan, South Gyeongsang Province, for on-site counseling.
The latest NHRCK human rights counseling tour is viewed as meaningful in that the Commission explored ways to improve human rights on the island by forging closer connections to its residents and that the Commission provided customized one-on-one human rights counseling on the island, which is less accessible due to its geographical conditions.
