rumors about these asylum-seekers, prejudice against Muslims, and hate speech targeting
migrants and refugees. On June 13, a petition requesting the abolition of the Refugee Act, novisa entry, and the refugee-status application system as well as a Constitutional amendment was
posted on Cheong Wa Dae's petition website.
To the abovementioned petition, the government replied on August 1 that it was impossible
to withdraw from the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and abolish the Refugee
Act considering Korea's international standing and interests. The government also announced
the refugee system improvement plan that focuses on the resolution of the public's anxiety,
the prevention of the abuse of refugee status, the creation of a fair and rapid refugee screening
system, and the regular re-examination of the qualifications of refugee-status holders.
On August 7, we issued a statement welcoming the government's stance and urging a more
aggressive response to the spread of prejudice and hatred against refugees.
Participating in the 2018 Seoul Queer Culture Festival to Resolve Prejudice
against Sexual Minorities
In 2017, we operated a promotional booth at a queer culture festival, a first for a national
institution, to bring attention to the need to eliminate prejudice against sexual minorities. For the
2018 Seoul Queer Culture Festival, we set up a promotional booth and hung a rainbow banner
on the exterior of the Commission's head office building from July 12-14 to demonstrate our
support for the human rights and civil society organizations engaged in the promotion of the
human rights of sexual minorities and the resolution of hate speech. At the booth, we installed
a bulletin board entitled Things I Wish the Commission Would Do to listen to the voices of the
participants and provided photo services and temporary tattooing in designs related to human
rights.
Holding a Meeting and Seminar and Conducting Monitoring Activities
concerning Hatred and Discrimination
As an extension of our efforts to identify the current situation of human rights and civil
society organizations engaged in countering hate speech and hate speech-induced discrimination
and seek cooperation to resolve discrimination, we staged talks with experts from the People's
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Commission's Major Activities