Diversity Creates Beauty
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK; Chair: Ahn, Kyong-hwan) took part in 2008 Migrants' Arirang, a multicultural festival, at Olympic Park in Bangi-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul on May 11. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Multicultural and Open Society, a juridical foundation, with the aim of helping Korean society better embrace cultural diversity since the number of multicultural families is increasing.
The NHRCK participated in order to inform the public--non-migrants as well as migrants and their families--of its functions and activities and how important it is to protect the human rights of migrants. Among the activities the Commission led, an activity called building a tower of diversity drew an especially great deal of attention of participants and visitors. The activity demonstrated that small wood pieces of different colors can form a single beautiful tower when put together, reminding the festival participants and visitors--whether non-migrants or migrants--of the ideas of "Thinking Differently, Living Together" and the "Society of Togetherness." In addition to the tower building, the Commission showed human rights films and animations it has produced to raise the Korean public's human rights awareness, handed out a leaflet in seven languages on the NHRCK's activities, and provided on-the-spot consultation.
