National Human Rights Commission of Korea Annual Report 2019
its activities and led key human rights agenda.
Part 1
and the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF), the Commission briefed
The Commission hosted the 24th annual meeting and biennial conference of the Asia Pacific
helped build solidarity among members and raise the Commission’s status within the APF. The
Commission used this opportunity to have meetings with ambassadors and UN representatives
in Korea on the issue of hate and discrimination, strengthen cooperation with international
organizations and raise awareness both at home and abroad.
With a view to promoting international human rights standards in Korea, the Commission held
a symposium with courts to discuss how international standards can be integrated in domestic trial
norms. It also hosted a meeting with subject matter experts to discuss the International Convention
for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances and urge the state to become a
party to the convention.
Meanwhile, the Commission chairs the GANHRI Working Group on Ageing meeting twice
every year to brief the activities of the working group and those undertaken by human rights
organizations in other countries. At the second meeting in the latter half of 2019, the Commission
was re-selected to chair the group. In this capacity, it will remain dedicated to advancing the
human rights agenda for the elderly in cooperation with international organizations, civil society
groups, and national human rights organizations.
The Commission remained actively engaged in ensuring that international human rights
standards are integrated and effectively implemented in Korea. It submitted an opinion regarding
the response to the List of Issues Prior to Reporting (LoIPR) for the United Nations Human Rights
Committee’s consideration of the ROK government’s fifth periodic report. It also submitted an
opinion regarding the follow-up measures to the three topics (business and human rights, the AntiDiscrimination Law, and the right to form labor unions) identified in the concluding observations
of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the fourth periodic report of the
Republic of Korea.
While actively responding to the consideration of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
on Korea’s fifth and sixth periodic report, the Commission also monitored the implementation of
international norms in Korea. In this regard, a study was made for a policy proposal to support
children become independent upon termination of institutional support.
15
Introduction
Forum. Fifteen years had passed since the Commission hosted the last meeting. The meetings