the status of the human rights organizations in order to resolve issues, such as lack of
awareness of the ‘human rights remedy process’ that is distinct from existing criminal justice
organizations or other various civil complaint handling organizations, limitations of
independence and expertise, and the problem of uneven overall competency by region for
not having working group, etc.
C) Responsibilities to Ensure Human Rights as a Core Mission of Local Governments
Following the adoption of the “Resolution on Local Government and Human Rights” by
the 24th UNHRC (Sep. 2013) and the adoption of an interim report on the resolution at the
27th UNHRC (Sep. 2014), the human rights policies at the local government level have
begun to be on the agenda at the UN. The guarantee of human rights in the everyday life of
the people means the guarantee of human rights in the specific time and space in which
people lead their lives, and for this, it is necessary to go beyond the human rights guarantee
at a national level and establish a human rights guarantee system in the local communities.
The enactment of ordinances and establishing organizations by local governments to
implement their responsibilities in ensuring human rights is not an arbitrary and
discretionary act by the head of the local government, but it is a basic administrative act to
realize the duty to guarantee the fundamental rights by the state specified in the Constitution,
the principle of local autonomy, and the duty to guarantee human rights emphasized by the
international human rights norms at the regional level.
The abolition of human rights ordinances or regional human rights committees and the
reduction of departments dedicated to human rights in some local governments go against
the Korean society’s pursuit of realizing the human rights values. Human rights are universal
values whose value cannot be denied depending on political or religious orientation or
interests, and various interpretations regarding the meaning and application of human rights
are possible; however, there are some terms of human rights that must be protected and
realized under any circumstances. It is necessary to make it clear that it is unacceptable to
676) Report commissioned by the NHRCK, Policy research for strengthening and establishing regional human rights
protection system, Oct. 2022
276
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