With the theme of “How to look at the customary practices for appointment of teachers of schools operated by religious foundations,” the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) held a forum at Learning Place of NHRCK on July 12, 2006. The forum was held to discuss the assertion that the general practices of employment by private schools operated by religious foundations amount to employment discrimination on account of religion because private schools founded by religious foundations give employment opportunities only to specific religious persons in employment of their teachers.
As the customary practices of recruitment of teachers of the schools operated by religious foundation is a theme that can be discussed in terms of various aspects of basic human rights such as freedom of religion, autonomy of universities, autonomous right of personnel management of private autonomous sector, and prevention of unreasonable discrimination, NHRCK provided the opportunity for people to understand the current status and debated issues on the customary practices of employment of the schools operated by religious foundations at this forum with a lot of professionals of every sphere attending.
Starting with the opening speech entitled, “Issues of employment of teachers by schools operated by religious foundations in light of basic human rights and practices of foreign countries” (by Gi-chun Song, Department of Law, Cheonbuk National University), relevant persons and experts such as Prof. Sang-rae Kim (Department of Divinity, SahmYook University), Prof. Kwang-ryul Kim (Department of Christian Religion, Hannam University), Prof. Yun-jin Choi(Joint Representative of Korea Institute for Religious Freedom), Prof. Jong-myung Kim (Department of International Korean Studies Program, The Academy of Korean Studies), Prof. Sang-hee Han (Department of Law, Konkuk University), etc. joined the forum and shared a wide variety of professional opinions. NHRCK is willing to seek improvements for the desirable operation of the schools founded by religious foundations in light of the spirit of the Constitution, international standards, etc. based upon the diverse opinions presented at the forum from every sphere of our community.
