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Chairperson’s Statement on Universal Children’s Day
Date : 2018.11.21 00:00:00 Hits : 2248

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea, in commemoration of the Universal Children’s Day on November 20, announces the following statement, calling for efforts of the state and society to guarantee children’s right to be free from poverty and exclusion and violence and discrimination.

The UN designated the Universal Children’s Day to commemorate the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20 November, 1989. The CRC is universal commitment for children that prescribes that every child has the right to survival, protection, development and participation. To realize that commitment, 196 states have joined the Convention including the Republic of Korea.

However, the reality in Korea shows that the commitment has not been fully fulfilled yet. Regarding the basic right to survival and safety, suicide has been the leading cause of death of the youth aged 9 to 24 since 2007, and the figure stood at 7.8 per 100,000 youth as of 2016. The reasons for the suicide in 2016 were family issues(34.3%), pessimism·depression(17.6%), and academic grade(12.0%). The Me-too movement in schools and the result of a fact-finding research of the NHRCK where three out of 10 students answered that they have experienced sexual harrassment at schools show that children are not safe even at school, where they have be safe the most.

The Child Welfare Act explicitly prescribes that children should be free from any forms of discrimination; however, there still lies a long way ahead of us regarding protection of the human rights of children from vulnerable classes. The number of migrant children in Korea is estimated to be more than 100,000 and they are likely to be placed in blind spot due to unstable status of residence and denial to child welfare facilities. Due to lack of special education institution for children with disabilities, they have no choice but to commute long distance to go to school, and a large number of classes are over-crowded.

The State and society have to make every effort possible to guarantee the survival and safety of children at home, school and local society, and to enable them to grow autonomously without experiencing discrimination. To this end, policies in diverse fields have been devised and implemented including the Basic Plan on Child Policy and Basic Plan on Youth Policy. We hope such policies reflect the spirit of the CRC and focus on the protection of the human rights of children.

The NHRCK will continue to carry out and expand its work for the promotion and protection of the human rights of children including monitoring national policies and expressing our voices as a permanent and independent monitoring institution for child rights. We hope the Universal Children’s Day serves as an opportunity for all of us to contribute to realizing a world where every child lives with happiness.

 

Choi Youngae

Chairperson

NHRCK

 

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