o The National Human Rights Commission of Korea recommended to the Minister of the Employment and Labour to ratify ILO Convention N. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention and N.98 on Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining. The decision to recommend was made at the Plenary Committee on 10 December.
o The Korean government joined the International Labor Organization in 1991 as the 152th member country and among 8 fundamental conventions, it only ratified conventions related to the prohibition of discrimination and child labor. It has not ratified 4 other conventions on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Rights to Organise Convention, and Forced Labour Convention.
o The Korean government pledged to make efforts to ratify the ILO fundamental conventions when it was signing a FTA with EU in 2010. The NHRCK concluded that given such commitment and international status of Korea, it is needed for Korea to ratify the remaining four ILO fundamental conventions.
o In this regard, a draft legislations on ratification of ILO fundamental conventions were proposed at the National Assembly to urge the government to ratify the ILO Conventions N.87 and N.98.
o The NHRCK concluded that the freedom of association and the three labor rights, the right to independent association, collective bargaining, and collective action as defined in the Constitution of the Republic of Korea are not different from the contents of the ILO Convention N.87 and N.98. And thus, it is necessary to ratify the conventions to implement international human rights standards in Korea and at the same time protect the value of the Constitution.
Accordingly, the NHRCK hopes that the government joins the ILO Convention N. 87 and N.98 to draw up social agreement related to the conventions and resolve related labour issues by creating an environment favorable to the ratification of the convention.
