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Introduction
recommendation for new line-of-duty criteria to recognize line-of-duty deaths for non-public
officials, institutional recommendation to promote the rights of foreign immigrants in the
construction industry, policy recommendation to better protect the rights of marginal part-time
workers, recommendation to change the handicapped persons registration system to better
accommodate refugees with disabilities, recommendation to change the child birth registration
requirement to prevent child abuse, and recommendation for institutional improvement to
protect the rights of seniors with dementia.
The Commission played the role of a quasi-international organization to facilitate
implementation of international human rights standards in Korea. It submitted a list of issues
prior to the third session of Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations, a list of issues
prior to the session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women,
and a written opinion regarding the country report on the Convention against Torture. It also
held a seminar to find ways to implement the recommendations of the ILO, and one on ways to
implement the fourth concluding observations of the United Nations Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights. As the Chair of the GANHRI Working Group on Ageing, the
Commission made a presentation on ways to strengthen the rights of the elderly on behalf of a
hundred or so national human rights organizations. It also organized the 2nd ASEM Conference
on Global Ageing and Human Rights of Older Persons, contributing to the international
community’s effort to elevate human rights.
The Commission has the mandate of a state human rights organization actively supporting
the efforts of the new administration, whose intent is to be “a government that prioritizes human
rights” with a five-year policy roadmap featuring enhanced freedom of speech, independent
media, and anti-discrimination efforts. Also, to move “the society beyond polarization and
discrimination where every person is respected,” the Commission must flesh out a plan to
achieve the strategic objectives, shape the necessary conditions, and work on new human rights
agenda.