The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) welcomes to passage of a Human Rights Education Act Bill, which was passed in the State Council on October 30, 2007. The Commission has been pursuing the bill's enactment in order to increase social awareness of human rights and make human rights education mandatory in the public service sector.
The seven-article bill passed by the State Council states:
▶ A definition of and underlying principles for human rights education in compliance with UN and universal international human rights standards;
▶ All citizens shall have the right to human rights education, and the national, provincial and municipal governments shall bear the responsibility to ensure human rights education;
▶ Public agencies and the like shall provide mandatory human rights education for their civil servants and/or employees; and
▶ The State shall provide support to agencies and groups related to human rights education, in order to facilitate human rights education.
The passage of this bill is expected to increase the institutional organization for human rights education in South Korea, as recommended by the UN Human Rights Committee. With this structure in place, South Korea will have a clear road by which the nation can emerge in the international community as an advanced country in human rights and human rights education, through exemplar implementation of international human rights standards and home to a UN Secretary General.
The Bill must now be passed in the National Assembly in order to become a national law. If it is passed, South Korea will be the first country in the world to have a human rights education act that is in accordance with relevant UN recommendations. Since human rights education will be provided to civil servants and/or employees at the national, provincial and local government levels as well as in schools, custodial institutions and protective shelter, the Commission hopes that the enactment of such a bill would properly educate those interested in performing civil service work to serve the public while valuing human rights and nondiscriminatory environments.
The Commission has taken major steps toward the enactment of a human rights education act, including the launch of an 11-member task force team of human rights education experts and lawyers in April 2006; the drafting of a revised bill of similar content; the announcement of the Commission’s plan to seek enactment of the bill from March 16 to 30, 2007 in order to gather opinions from a variety of citizens; and the finalizing of the Commission’s legislative bill for a human rights education act and the recommendation on May 9, 2007 that the government should submit the bill to the National Assembly. After consultation and coordination with relevant ministries and agencies, the bill was finally passed at a vice-ministerial meeting on October 25, 2007.
Unfortunately, many of the provisions that the Commission had developed over the last two years were omitted from the original bill. Among those omitted were provisions for the establishment of a human rights research and education institute. Despite this, the Commission plans to produce and pursue a variety of means for promoting and supporting human rights education within individual governmental bodies once the act is enacted.
Although South Korean society has achieved spectacular advancements in human rights since the democratic movement in the late 1980s, human rights violations by government powers still persist, especially in terms of discrimination in the five areas of gender, educational background, disability, nationality, and worker status. Additionally human rights infringements and discriminatory acts against social minority groups and socially vulnerable people, including children, are still frequent. These circumstances formed the backdrop against which the Commission developed the bill for a human rights education act, with the aim of preventing future human rights infringements and discrimination through education, and thereby facilitate social consolidation.
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.
