The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Korea has recommended the government set up a National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. In particular, the NHRC has advised that the government establish a human rights policy and implement it based on the recommendation on the NAP made by the Commission.
Significance of the NHRC’s NAP
For the past three years, the NHRC has been developing a recommendation on the National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. In Oct. 2003, the NHRC in consultation with other government institutions developed the National Action Plan (NAP), a mid- to long-term blueprint and national comprehensive plan for human rights. Accordingly the government, which sets up and implements human rights policy plans, established the NAP for human rights based on the NHRC’s version.
Given the cooperative environment from which Korea’s NAP originated, namely collaboration between the NHRC and the government, it has many advantages over those of other countries in that real conditions were considered and the value of human rights reflected. As such, the international community is closely watching the establishment of NAP in Korea.
Composition of NAP recommendation and core content
The aim of NAP is to propose methods for protecting the socially weak and minorities; and to draw up laws and institutions for building up a strong base for civil and social rights. However, in developing the recommendation, the NHRC was unable to suggest all means and directions to attain these goals. Given this restraint, the Commission strategically chose specific fields on which it believes the government should place priority for the next five years.
The recommendation consists of three parts. Part I summarizes the outline, processes and methods of Korea’s NAP, and the composition of the NAP recommendation. Part II comprises a total of 11 subjects including persons with disabilities, non-regular workers, refugees and immigrant workers, persons living in facilities, sexual minorities, and North Korean defectors, etc. Those subjects are then divided into three sectors: (1) a sector that should be focused on for the next five years; (2) a sector that requires an immediate remedy; and (3) a sector that is difficult for the party concerned to set the agenda by him/herself.
Finally, Part III is divided into the following: a sector that requires improvement and complement to build up infrastructure for the promotion of human rights; a sector that needs efforts to protect and promote human rights; a sector for human rights education; and a sector that requires a cooperative network as it concerns domestic and international human rights issues. Such a composition based on strategic choice and focus contrasts strongly with other nations’ NAPs that either only abstractly propose principles and directions, or merely list policy tasks. As such, it is a giant step forward for Korea.
The major policy tasks of Part II are as follows:
1. For persons with disabilities, it suggests the revision and establishment of laws to promote their human rights, expand their right to vote, guarantee their right to movement and education, and support their rehabilitation (equipment, etc.).
2. For non-regular workers, it advises the prevention of the misuse of employment and for the rectification of discrimination, as well as expansion of social insurance and an increase in opportunities for education and training, etc.
3. For immigrant workers, it proposes protection of their basic rights as well as those of their family, and the promotion of female immigrant workers, etc.
4. For sexual minorities, it suggests a review of the gradual application of the transgender operation to be covered by national health insurance to protect their basic and human rights.
For North Korean defectors, it proposes additional human rights education for civil servants and a policy for easy employment to protect their basic rights.
On civil rights in Part III, the recommendation includes: the necessity of an exemption law to eliminate or suspend the application of the negative prescription for prosecuting human rights crimes committed by the state; a specified expansion in the political activities of civil servants and teachers; a limitation on the reckless collection of resident registration numbers and the prevention of abuse of said numbers; minimization of the uniform limitation on Internet content by the government; ease of restriction on assembly and demonstration; and abolishment of the National Security Law to guarantee freedom of conscience and recognition of those who refuse to serve in the military based on their beliefs, as well as introduction of an alternative to the draft system, etc.
On social rights in Part III, the recommendation includes: the end of compulsory arbitration by the government in the case of strikes in essential public services and a reduction of the scope of services; an increase in the scope of application to basic labor rights; improvement in designating the minimum wage and ensuring its application to employees; and disclosure of information on the deployment of monitoring technology, etc. To strengthen human rights education, it proposes the enhancement of human rights education in schools, public institutions and civil society.
Procedure followed by NAP recommendation
When the NHRC informs the NAP, the government will appoint a coordinating organization from the Office for Government Policy Coordination or a leading body of governmental departments to set up the government’s version of NAP. Each department is then to establish detailed plans and implement those plans.
The NHRC will reflect tasks included in the first NAP but were failed to be implemented within the period, and others that were not included in the first NAP for several reasons, in the second NAP. To this end, the Commission will actively monitor and evaluate the whole process of NAP establishment and its implementation.
In addition, the Commission will advise the government to improve systems and policies on each issue that requires immediate attention, even if the issue was already included in the NAP.
Grounds for the NHRC’s NAP
The establishment of the NAP makes public the government’s commitment to protecting and promoting human rights. Specifically, it lays the foundation to protect the rights of the socially weak, minorities and individuals, and creates a human rights-friendly culture. Moreover, the establishment of NAP is to meet demands from international human rights bodies and the international community.
In 1993, the UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna adopted the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, and recommended that governments establish a National Action Plan for Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. In May 2005, the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights recommended that the Korean government report to the committee on the establishment by June 2006.
The NHRC developed the NAP from functional and legal perspectives. The functional perspective refers to the fact the Commission is a government agency dedicated to human rights that comprehensively evaluates human rights situations and suggests core tasks while monitoring and advising the establishment and implementation of the NAP based on international human rights standards and principles. Secondly, in terms of the legal perspective, the Commission bases Article 19 (1) of the National Human Rights Commission Act on investigating laws, policies, and practices, and presents its opinions and recommendations to the government. Moreover, it bases Articles 19 to 21 of the Enforcement Ordinance of the Act on its consultation with the Consulting Body on Human Rights Policy for development and related matters.
Opinion collection and review on the process of NAP
The NHRC has conducted surveys in a faithful manner and cooperated with government bodies and civil society in the process of developing the NAP recommendation, observing universal and international human rights standards. The NHRC’s continual cooperation with government agencies has led the government to accept the Commission’s recommendation for its establishment of NAP. As well, the opinions of civil society, including civic human rights organizations, were reflected in the development of NAP and have allowed for social consensus on the recommendation.
In the process of the development of the recommendation, the NHRC translated main documents and carried out basic surveys. First, the NHRC translated and published a variety of NAP-related materials including the Handbook on NAP and the NAPs of major countries, as well as UN recommendations on the reports of other countries’ implementation of international covenants, etc. Through this process, the Commission compared and analyzed overseas cases, enabling the recommendation to be based on strategic choice and focus. Next, in order to designate core tasks to survey human rights situations and improve human rights, the Commission conducted basic condition surveys. It commissioned a total of 26 researches on civil rights (8 cases), social rights (10 cases), minorities (7 cases), and human rights education (1 case), etc. These researches were participated by academics, experts and human rights organizations that also took part in a variety of discussions to develop the NAP recommendation and review its content.
To prepare the recommendation, the NHRC organized and operated the Planning Team of NAP and the Consulting Body on Human Rights Policy. The NAP team is composed of nine academics and experts and seven representatives from human rights organizations. Its main role was to set the direction of NAP development and designate main tasks through a series of 14 meetings. As well, it put forth efforts to maximize the efficacy of the recommendation during its talks with the high-ranking officials of the Consulting Body at the working level. Furthermore, a series of public hearings and policy debates with human rights organizations and in-depth document reviews enabled the Commission to reflect these opinions in the recommendation and achieve a social consensus.
The NHRC has made consistent efforts to examine the content of the NAP recommendation. It created an Ad Hoc Committee on the NAP recommendation composed of five human rights commissioners in Aug. 2005, and reviewed all the contents of the recommendation in detail in a total of 14 meetings. It also hosted three workshops attended by all 11 commissioners of the Commission. –End-
