Standing Commissioner Jung Kang-Ja of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) will visit Japan on November 30, 2007. During her five-day stay in Japan, she will participate in several meetings, including one to explore ways to institutionalize an independent human rights remedy agency in Japan. Her visit to Japan has been planned upon being invited by five Japanese groups, including the Japan Bar Association and Hurights Osaka.
At a meeting hosted by the Japan Bar Association, Commissioner Jung will discuss the need for an independent human rights remedy agency in Japan, sharing the Commission’s experience, including the debates in the process of its launch. She will also provide her opinion on the criteria for the establishment of a human rights institution stipulated by the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. She will deliver a lecture on the Cmmission’s activities over the past six years and changes to the human rights situation in Korea.
Commissioner Jung will also take part in a meeting to address the possibility of enacting a discrimination prohibition act and a racial discrimination abolition act in Japan, hosted by the International Human Rights Law Association of Japan, Hurights Osaka and other human rights organizations. At the meeting, she is planning to share the method, by which the Commission pushed for the drafting of a bill for Korea’s Disability Discrimination Act.
The Commission will continue to strengthen international cooperation and exchanges to promote human rights as a universal value of humanity. In particular, the Commission will readily engage in collaboration and consultation to advance human rights in the Northeast Asian region.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea was established in 2001, offering investigation and remedy services for Korean citizens and foreigners residing in Korea against human rights violations and discrimination. The Commission provides policy recommendations and remedial action against human rights infringements, collaborates with international human rights organizations and implements educational programs to improve the human rights culture.
