during the Japanese colonial era and was operated as a detention facility for homeless children
after national liberation. At least 4,691 children were forcefully confined here by the police and
public officials from 1955 until the reformatory shut down in 1982 and suffered from forced
labor, violence, and hunger. Many lives were lost due to habitual violence and abuse committed
by staff members and other inmates, and survivors continue to suffer from aftereffects such as
physical disabilities, trauma, and poverty to this day.
We staged the Forum on the Enactment of a Special Act on the Seongam Reformatory Case
and Support Measures for Victims on June 22 and December 17 and sought specific measures to
support survivors who are still traumatized by their experience of being confined in the facility
and treated inhumanely, including the enactment of a special act.
On October 22, we expressed our opinion urging the Speaker of the National Assembly
to enact a special act for the resolution of this grave violation of children's rights or provide
the legal grounds for the resolution of this case in the bill for the partial amendment of the
Framework Act on the Resolution of Past Events for Truth and Reconciliation as well as urging
the Minister of the Interior and Safety and Governor of Gyeonggi-do to implement possible
support measures.
Holding the Children's Rights Conference
We held the Children's Rights Conference for three days from November 22 to 24. This
conference, consisting of eight sessions, was designed to share the results of the Commission's
monitoring on children's rights conditions and seek ways to address pending issues.
On the first day, the opening ceremony and the session to present the results of policy
monitoring for the implementation status of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child took place. On the second day, the sessions on the Framework Act on the Rights of
Children and Youth and on the protection of children from harmful environments were held
simultaneously, followed by the session on school violence that presented the results of on-site
monitoring of school violence. The seminar of experts for responding to the review regarding
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child scheduled for September 2019 was
also held along with the session to present the results of the Study on Joining the Third Optional
Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. On the last day, the
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Commission's Major Activities