Monitoring on Participation in the Political Life
of Persons with Disabilities
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) formed a monitoring group on disability discrimination consisting of persons with disabilities and experts in order to ensure the effective implementation of the Anti-Discrimination against and Remedies for Persons with Disabilities Act (Disability Discrimination Act).
The Disability Discrimination Act came into force in April 2008. Considering the substantive issues of disability discrimination complaints received by the NHRCK, it is viewed that the Act has not yet firmly settled in our society.
The NHRCK will monitor the equality status of persons with disabilities, particularly in the prohibited areas of discrimination under the Disability Discrimination Act, and many other issues related to the protection of rights of persons with disabilities. The NHRCK will also identify discriminatory practices and raise public awareness of the Disability Discrimination Act.
The monitoring group will conduct on-site monitoring in four regions (Seoul, Busan, Gwangju, Daegu) of Korea in the following fields : full and equal participation in political life; reasonable accommodation provided for the disabled by public libraries, museums and galleries ; reasonable accommodation provided in public events organized by the governmental offices. It will also assess the compliance of local government ordinances with the Disability Discrimination Act.
The NHRCK conducted a pilot monitoring program in 2009, which will be expanded in 2010 to expedite the settlement of the Disability Discrimination Act in society.
In order to observe the participation of persons with disabilities in political life, the group conducted monitoring on the June 2, 2010 National Regional Elections in the following areas: the accessibility of persons with disabilities to websites of political parties and candidates and information provided by the Election Commission; subtitles, sign languages and audio descriptions in election broadcasting; and reasonable accommodation at the polling booths.
The 113-strong monitoring group includes 61 persons with disabilities taking up more than half of its members. It indicates that the monitoring can be conducted more effectively and meaningfully from the viewpoint of persons with disabilities.
