NHRCK Receives 30,000th Complaint
The number of complaints filed with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) has surpassed 30,000. Since the first-ever complaint with the NHRCK was filed on November 26, 2001, it has seen a steady increase in the number of complaints received each year, except in 2006. The total number of complaints filed were 803 complaints in 2001, 2,790 complaints in 2002, 3,815 complaints in 2003, 5,368 complaints in 2004, 5,617 complaints in 2005, 4,187 complaints in 2006, and 6,274 complaints in 2007. It was around ten o'clock in the morning on March 21, 2008 when the 30,000th complaint came in.
Most complaints involve human rights violations by national, provincial, or municipal government agencies or sheltering, detention, or correctional facilities in the course of performing jobs duties. Such complaints numbered 24,019, or about 80% of all complaints. The second most common type of complaints relate to discrimination, not only by national, provincial, or municipal government agencies or sheltering, detention, or correctional facilities, but also by corporations, groups, or juridical persons (4,213 cases; 14 %). The other 6% or 1,781 complaints were mainly calls for improvement of laws, institutions, or policies.
Although the vast bulk of complaints concerned human rights violations by government agencies, the number of complaints against discrimination started to rise in 2005. Regarding government agencies' human rights violations, which pertain to the right to freedom, the NHRCK has issued numerous recommendations and expressed opinions demanding institutional improvements, leading to remedies and progress in many aspects of society. Notwithstanding, complaints involving such violations persist and are still far and away the most common type, showing that government power continues to be widely exercised in a manner that infringes on human rights.
The increase in complaints against discrimination can be attributable to the public's rising awareness about the rights to equality and social rights. The rise evidences that a growing number of people perceive those rights as universal human rights.
As the public's awareness of universal human rights extends and deepens, more people are found on the doorstep of the NHRCK with their cases of discrimination. However, an uncomfortable truth is that the National Human Rights Commission Act does not always let the Commission open the door widely, restricting the relief measures available.
Korean society is becoming more diverse; Koreans' human rights awareness is growing. No doubt, more complainants will look to the Commission for relief and remedies to uphold their human rights. Thus, the NHRCK is planning to diversify its public services by seeking ways to expand the scope of investigations through, e.g., the amendment of the National Human Rights Commission Act, as well as by providing consultation with greater flexibility, for example, upon receiving a complaint, by giving information on other relief methods rather than those the NHRCK can afford to take in the event the complaint involves a case in which the Commission cannot initiate an investigation.
Concerning a range of issues regarding such human rights as social rights that are not included in the purview of investigation by the Commission, it will not just sit and watch but aggressively conduct activities like status investigations and policy research to issue policy improvement recommendations, raise awareness, and extend relief.