The Commission marked its seventh anniversary on November 25, 2008. Launched on November 25, 2001 for the protection and promotion of human rights, the Commission has made efforts to create ‘A World of Dignity for All.’
Establishment of the Commission itself was a symbolic landmark and brought a new level of interest in the human rights situation in Korea. Under the United Nations Paris Principles, the Commission has redressed human rights standards in various fields in our society for 7 years. As a result, governmental organizations started to review implementation procedures of policies with human rights-sensitive perspectives. Numerous human rights infringements and acts of discrimination have been corrected through the Commission’s continuous recommendations and opinions. The 90 percent rate of acceptance of the Commission’s recommendation supports this assertion, as presented in the table below.
Recommendation Acceptance Rate (As of September 30, 2008)
|
|
Total
|
Full Acceptance
|
Partial Acceptance
|
Non-Acceptance
|
Under Review
|
Rate
|
|
Total
|
1,544
|
991
|
222
|
134
|
197
|
90.0%
|
|
Human Rights Policy
|
179
|
54
|
62
|
47
|
16
|
71.0%
|
|
Human Rights Infringement
|
892
|
636
|
131
|
23
|
102
|
97.1%
|
|
Act of Discrimination
|
473
|
301
|
29
|
64
|
79
|
83.8%
|
The Commission has built the platform to develop a good model of human rights country. Although international human rights organizations have expressed concerns about the rights of migrant workers, National Security Law, the death penalty, and conscientious objection to military service, there has been considerable change since the establishment of the Commission.
For the protection and promotion of human rights, the Commission had drafted National Action Plans (NAP), recommended them to the government in January 2006, and monitored their implementation. The high level of NAP implementation directly demonstrates the level of human rights situation in Korea; the Commission will make a full effort to achieve the fundamental purpose of the NAP.
The Commission focused on human rights protection of the underprivileged and underrepresented such as migrant workers, persons with disabilities, women, and children. The Commission also actively responded to newly proposed human rights situations such as human rights on the sports field, privacy, students’ rights, and North Korean human rights, through inquiries and policy recommendations.
In the process of the Commission’s activities, various discrimination problems have been raised as major human rights issues. The Commission has investigated approximately 5,000 complaints so far (as of November 2008), proposed new standards of judgment on discrimination, and corrected unjustifiable acts of prejudice and discrimination. Through these efforts, a discrimination remedy function was integrated to the Commission in 2005 and the Anti-Discrimination Against and Remedies for Persons with Disabilities Act (Disability Discrimination Act; DDA) entered into force in April 2008.
From the Commission’s establishment in 2001 through November 15, 2008, a total of 214,621 people asked for help from the Commission: 34,434 complaints; 61,693 counseling requests; 118,494 civil appeals and guides. Among received complaints, human rights infringements made up 80 % (detention centers, 42%; police, 22%; other state agencies, 13%; facility for caring for many persons, 7%; prosecutors, 5%), acts of discrimination made up 15% (disabilities, 22%; social status, 17%; sexual harassment, 9%; age, 8%; gender, 6%; others, 20%), and other cases were 5%. The number of complaints filed on acts of discrimination has increased significantly since the enforcement of the DDA.
For the protection of human rights, the Commission has continuously expanded human rights education by cooperating with schools, public organizations, private companies, and civil societies. The Commission has also developed and disseminated a variety of human rights cultural contents including movies, animations, magazines, and posters to raise public human rights awareness.
The 7 years work of the Commission has contributed to knowledge of good practices among national human rights institutions (NHRIs). United Nations Secretary-General BAN Ki-Moon and current and former United Nations High Commissioners for Human Rights sent encouraging messages regarding the Commission’s activities and asked for active cooperation for the promotion of human rights in the developing world.
The NHRCK had played a role of a Chair and a Deputy Chair of the APF (Asia Pacific Forum of NHRIs) and is currently a Deputy Chair of the ICC (International Coordinating Committee of NHRIs). In 2004, the Commission successfully held the ‘7th International Conference for National Human Rights Institutions’ with 190 international human rights experts, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In November 2008, participants adopted the ‘Seoul Guidelines’ during the ‘International Conference on Human Rights of Migrants and Multicultural Society’ which was held in honor of the 60th anniversary of the UDHR.
Human Rights are becoming a more important issue in the international community. The international community has expressed concerns that Korea is not fully implementing international human rights treaties. The Commission strives to implement domestic policies in compliance with international human rights standards. Thus, the Commission has recently changed its task to ‘Human Rights-Advanced Society in Accordance with International Human Rights Standards’ in concert with the Commission’s plans for 2009-2011. In the Commission’s plans for the next two years, five strategic goals were selected including common practice of international human rights standards, implementation of a gender equality perspective, enhancement of independence, orientation towards clients and citizens, and enhancement of partnerships. The Commission also selected promotion of North Korean human rights as a special project.
