The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) has submitted a legislative plan on human rights education (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Agenda for Human Rights Education Act’) to the government in order to pave the way for human rights education and increase awareness of human rights throughout the nation.
Korea has been making great strides after democratization, but the violation of human rights by the authorities, the discrimination against socially vulnerable people and minorities, and the five major discriminations, such as the discrimination against gender, education, person with disabilities, foreigners and non-regular employees are evident. Under the circumstances, The NHRCK expects the Human Rights Education Act to stop the violation of human rights through human rights education to achieve social integration.
The Human Rights Education Act consists of 15 articles covering the following key topics:
▶ Present the definition and basic principles of human rights education in compliance with UN and other international standards
▶ Define the people’s right to human rights education and the government’s obligation to implement it
▶ Establish a human rights education committee, a human rights education conference and a human rights education center
▶ Prepare the recommendation plan for the comprehensive map on human rights education, enabling the Chairperson of the Republic of Korea to establish the basic plan for human rights and the head of central administration institution to set the detailed implementation plan through the recommendation plan
▶ Conduct an on-site investigation and fact-finding to check for diligent implementation of human rights education and ensuing demand for remedies thereto, and
▶ Prepare support plans for every level of education, human rights-related organizations, and education and research institutions
In order to prepare for the Human Rights Education Act, the NHRCK held advisory meetings with outside experts in July 2004, had discussion
s with experts in March 2005 and 2006, and organized the Human Rights Education Act Legislation TFT (hereinafter referred to as the ‘TFT’) with 11 human rights educators and legal experts in April 2006 to finalize the TFT agenda in October 2006. The Commission has been amending and supplementing through the gathering public opinion, holding bull sessions with human rights organizations and human rights education experts, practical meetings with the related ministries and legal advisors. By preparing the draft of the Human Rights Education Act, the central government, local governments and civil organizations have shown interest. A survey of the general public was conducted through its Web page, and it held a public hearing on April 4 to gather various opinions on the Human Rights Education Act agenda on April 23 and proposed it for legislation to the government.
Human Rights Watch (HRW), the worldwide human rights monitoring organization headquartered in the U.S., said in its annual report that “Korea has emerged as a country in Asia that protects human rights but it still has many tasks to overcome, such as the imprisonment of conscientious rejecters, the capital punishment law, and the poor treatment of migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers.” Freedom House evaluates the level of freedom on a scale of 1-7 in 193 countries annually. In ‘Freedom of the World in 2007,’ Korea received a ‘1’ in political freedom and a ‘2’ for citizens’ freedom, indicating the need for a major improvement in human rights.
The NHRCK has reduced and will continue to reduce social costs by preventing the violation of human rights and discriminatory acts through human rights education rather than the post relief activities while achieving the social integration in a way of enacting the Human Rights Education Act to grow into the advanced country that promotes equality. The Commission will do its best to push forward the Human Rights Education Act agenda through the effort and monitoring in diverse aspects.
