Questions suggested 6. In light of the reality in ROK where few court rulings have been made about the Covenant rights, it seems that the Constitution alone is not sufficient to guarantee the realization of what is provided in the ICESCR and, despite the CESCR’s past recommendations, little significant progress has been made until now. It is necessary to think hard about the ways to incorporate the ICESCR into national legislation in order to effectively guarantee the implementation of the ICESCR. Please provide the Government’s views and future plan in this regard. 7. Please specify whether the Government has any intention to revise the relevant legislation to ensure that complaints about alleged infringements on the Covenant rights are received and remedied by the NHRCK. Issue 2: Anti-Discrimination Act Current status 8. After the NHRCK recommended the Government to adopt the Anti-Discrimination Act on 24 July 2006, the Government had sought to enact the law but the Government-drafted bill was discarded upon the end of the 17th National Assembly’s four year term in 2008. President Park Geun-hye’s Administration has proceeded with the enactment of the Anti-Discrimination Act, as one of its priorities for national administration, but no government bill has been worked out yet. In response, the NHRCK reiterated its recommendation for the adoption of a comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Act when it submitted the recommendations for the 3rd National Action Plans for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (NAP) 2017-2021 in July 2016. Moreover, the Human Rights Committee (CCPR) expressed its concerns and recommendations, as seen below, in its Concluding Observations published in November 2015 after the consideration of the Fourth State Report by the ROK: a While noting the existence of a number of individual laws prohibiting specific forms of discrimination, the Committee is concerned that comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation is lacking. It is particularly concerned about the current lack of legislation defining and prohibiting racial discrimination and discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. (Para. 12) b The State Party should adopt comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation, explicitly addressing all spheres of life and defining and prohibiting discrimination on any ground, including race, sexual orientation and gender identity. The legislation should impose appropriate penalties for direct and indirect discrimination committed by both public and private entities, and should provide for effective remedies. (Para. 13) 9. In the meantime, considering that, in the CESCR’s General Comment 20 (Para. 32), sexual orientation and gender identity are both the discrimination grounds which are explicitly forbidden in the ICESCR, sexual orientation and gender identify should be enumerated as two of the prohibited discrimination grounds in the comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Act, to ensure the legislation’s compliance with the international standards. Question suggested 10. Please specify why the Government has not made efforts to adopt the Anti-Discrimination Act since 2008, and its plan in this regard. Please specify the Government’s views with regard to the NHRCK’s 3 / 25