The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) organized an international conference on the right of access to information on August 31, 2001, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, the Korea Communications Commission, and Bae, Kim & Lee LLC.
The conference aimed at examining the status of the access to information for the persons with disabilities in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and seeking ways to strengthen the right to access to information for the effective implementation of the Convention. It also provided opportunity for comparative discussion through exploring relevant legislations, policies and practices in the EU and the USA.
The CRPD was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2006 and entered into force in the Republicof Koreain January 2009. The NHRCK observed significant increase of a number of complaints on the access to information and communications technologies (ICT) by the persons with disabilities from merely 12 complaints in 2009 to 506 complaints in 2010.
At the conference, Ronald McCallum, Chair of the CRPD Committee, delivered the keynote speech on the CRPD and the right of access to information for persons with disabilities. Jonathan Hahm, Senior Attorney Advisor of the U.S. Department of Justice, and Mark Magennis, Director of Centre for Inclusive Technologies of National Council for the Blind of Ireland, explained comprehensively relevant legislations, case laws and policies in the USAand the EU. The experts from the National Information Society Agency (NIA) and Korea Communications Agency (KCA) were also invited to discuss current national policy on access to the Internet and communication media for persons with disabilities.
