모두보기닫기
NHCRK Issues an Opinion about State Party Report to UN Human Rights Committee
Date : 2020.07.14 00:00:00 Hits : 2460

NHCRK Issues an Opinion about State Party Report to UN Human Rights Committee

-Requesting supplementary information such as difficulties in relation to implementation of recommendations and action plans-

 

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (Chairperson Young-ae Choi) issued an opinion to the Minister of Justice requesting revision and supplementary information for the fifth State Party report on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

 

As a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (date of accession: July 10 1990), the Republic of Korea is obliged to submit a State Party report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee about the steps taken and progress made in protecting the rights specified in the covenant. To date, it has submitted four reports to the Committee and is scheduled to present its fifth report in August 2020.

 

The draft fifth State Party report describes the implementation status of the concluding observations on the fourth national report (concerns and recommendations addressed by the UN Human Rights Committee after the review of the fourth national report in 2015) as well as the status of domestic law, policy and institutions and government measures related to the protection of civil and political rights such as elimination of discrimination and violence against women, prevention of human rights violations by the military, eradication of hate speech towards migrants and refugees and protection of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.

 

It is encouraging that the fifth report examines the efforts so far made by the government in legal and institutional contexts to realize the rights recognized by the covenant and comply with the recommendations in the concluding observations in the fourth regular report as well as provides an overall picture of its implementation in the State Party.

 

However, given that the aim of a State Party report is to provide a basis for a constructive dialogue between the UN Human Rights Committee and the State Party to identify issues of concern and challenges in relation to the domestic implementation of the covenant and discuss possible solutions to these issues to assist the State Party in fully protecting and fulfilling the rights upheld by the covenant, the NHRCK concluded that the fifth national report (27 responses to the list of issues) should be amended and augmented as follows.

 

1) Presenting obstacles and challenges encountered in implementation of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

 

- The fifth State Party report (draft) provides a list of policies, institutions, programs currently being implemented by the government. The report should further describe actual difficulties and challenges the government faces in the process of implementing measures, policies and institutions to fulfill its obligation as a State Party to the covenant as well as efforts made to address these issues.

 

2) Providing additional information such as concrete implementation plans of recommendations

 

- The draft national report fails to offer concrete plans for implementing the recommendations in the concluding observations of the fourth report, which was adopted about five years ago in 2015. The report only states that the State Party will “conduct a review, devise measures, make efforts...” without presenting concrete steps as to how they might be achieved. Thus, the NHRCK suggests that the report include concrete implementation plans of recommendations.

 

3) Providing answers for the entire list of issues and statistical data analysis

 

- The fifth draft national report lacks answers to some questions included in the list of issues such as the number of convictions resulting from the violation of Article 92-6 (disgraceful conduct), statistics on compensation for victims of torture. Moreover, in addition to the annual numbers of domestic violence and suicide cases, the report should present analysis of statistical data about domestic violence and suicides in relation to the concluding observations.

 

Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Committee is expected to review the fifth report of the Republic of Korea in 2022. The government should remind itself of the fact that the review of the national report is aimed at facilitating a constructive dialogue between the Committee and the State Party to protect and realize the rights specified in the Covenant. The Commission is expected to submit an independent report on domestic implementation of the covenant to the Committee prior to the review session and continue its efforts to promote covenant compliance, including through monitoring of the review process.

 

File

확인

아니오