by the Constitution. In response, we delivered our opinion to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court that it is desirable to decide on the appointment of a court-appointed defense counsel prior to the date of the first trial when requested by the defendant due to economic difficulties and that this opinion, as well as education on related procedures, should be shared with courts of different levels. According to our investigation, the defendant requested the appointment of a court-appointed defense counsel and submitted evidential documents such as the certificate for the receipt of social welfare benefits. However, the judge in charge did not decide on the appointment of a asked the petitioner whether he/she wished to maintain the request on the day of the trial, and the trial proceeded without a court-appointed defense counsel for the petitioner when the petitioner withdrew the request. We concluded that this act committed by the justice department is a violation of the procedures defined in the Criminal Procedure Act, Regulations on Criminal Procedure, and Established Rules on Court-Appointed Defense Counsels as well as a violation of the right to receive assistance of a defense counsel guaranteed by the Constitution. D. Expressing the Opinion on the 4th Phase of the World Programme for Human Rights Education On March 9, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights requested relevant institutions, such as national human rights institutions, to submit their opinions regarding the establishment of the 4th phase of the World Programme for Human Rights Education based on the Human Rights Council Resolution 36/12 (September 28, 2017). On June 15, we expressed our support for the Human Rights Council Resolution 36/12 and our opinion on highlighting the 4th phase as the universal guidelines for human rights education across the world based on cooperation with the international community in view of the fact that human rights education can serve as the first important step towards the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. We concluded that the entire world must aggressively combat hatred, discrimination, and National Human Rights Commission of Korea Annual Report 2018 51 Part 2 | Commission's Major Activities court-appointed defense counsel until the date of the first trial. The judge was found to have