Monthly aims to deepen sensibilities about human rights, broaden the human rights imagination, and foster greater sophistication and understanding of human rights issues
Because we hope to foster greater public awareness about human rights, because we hope that the number of people who see the world through the eyes of one who is conscious about social rights, we are publishing this monthly. We hope that many can share our perspective of the importance and value of human rights, and that many can come to empathize with and care about the plight of marginalized people everywhere. We hope that this monthly can contribute to fostering a deeper sensitivity to human rights in Korean society and broaden the human rights imagination of our readers.
Excerpted from “Human Rights” Issue 1
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will publish the first issue of the monthly, “Human Rights” on 1 August 2003. Through the monthly, the NHRC hopes that Korean people can easily access and understand the work carried out by the Commission, as well as facilitate greater conscientization about human rights issues. In so far as “Human Rights” spotlights a range of current issues in human rights, it can serve as an intermediating vehicle to deepen the human rights sensibilities of the entire society, further the human rights imagination, and foster greater sophistication and understanding about human rights issues.
The first issue of “Human Rights” covers the following topics.
The cover story is about a NHRC project that began last year, the project to produce a human rights film, “If You Were Me—Six Stories by Korean New Directors” to be shown in movie theaters this September. Highlights include a piece about the actor Mun-Ju Kim (star of “Crossing”), an actor with cerebral palsy, and Kun-dong Yeo (director of “Crossing.”) The piece includes an interview with the director, Chan-Wook Park (director of ‘Never Ending Peace and Love’) as well as a look behind the scenes for the one year leading up to the completion of the human rights film and is authored by the producer Jinsook Lee.
Next, the feature article, “NHRC: Changing the World,” introduces the main activities carried out by the NHRC, explaining the work in 2003 of the NHRC committee promoting the creation of an anti-discrimination law, the NHRC task force on irregular workers, on the National Security Law, on a Social Security Act and three other task forces. The feature also includes conte, or short stories, based on real cases in which the NHRC issued recommendations as well as pieces written by complainants about the NHRC as seen through their eyes.
“Human Rights” is formatted as a 4 by 6 color magazine, about 56 pages in length and is the fruit of one year of planning. A total of 20,000 copies were printed and will be distributed so as to be easily accessible to ordinary Korean citizens: copies will be placed in libraries, waiting rooms of government administrative offices and given free of charge to human rights NGOs to place in their offices. Those who wish to subscribe to “Human Rights” can do so through the website of the NHRC beginning August 4th.
