4. The lack of domestic legal basis to enforce the decisions of UN human rights treaty bodies
affirming human rights violations in individual complaints1 makes it difficult to ensure that
effective remedies are provided for victims of human rights violations.
5. Proposed recommendation: The State party should establish and implement the 4th NAP,
without delay, based on the key priorities recommended by the NHRCK in July 2022.2
6. Proposed recommendation: The State party should take active measures to implement the
recommendations of UN human rights treaty bodies at the domestic level and develop
mechanisms to ensure the implementation of their decisions under individual
communications procedures.3
Issue 2. Implementation of the Covenant: Human Rights Legal Frameworks
A. Legal and Institutional Frameworks for Human Rights
7. In 2021, the NHRCK and the Ministry of Justice jointly prepared a legislative bill titled the
Framework Act on Human Rights Policy to lay the legal foundation of human rights policies
and enforce them systematically at the national and local level. This bill sets forth the
country’s overall human rights systems including the formulation of the NAP, municipal
obligations for human rights, the domestic implementation of recommendations offered by
international human rights bodies, corporate respect for human rights, and public education
on human rights. The bill was proposed to the National Assembly in December 2021, yet it is
still pending.
8. There have been controversies over the attempt to abolish local human rights ordinances in
several provinces. In 2022, groups of local residents began local legislative procedures,
which are still in progress, demanding the nullification of the Chungcheongnam-do
Provincial Ordinance on Human Rights, the Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Ordinance on
Student Human Rights, and the Seoul Metropolitan Ordinance on Student Human Rights,
respectively. Their motivation for seeking to repeal these ordinances is based on the fact that
the ordinances contain provisions on non-discrimination against sexual minorities.4 In the
NHRCK’s view, the abolition of human rights ordinances may not only hinder the
institutionalization of human rights framework at the local level but also pose a risk of
regressing the human rights protection system for local residents. Thus, the NHRCK
expressed objections against such repeal to the local councils and the local governments.5 In
the meantime, the Association of Human Rights Committees of Local Governance urged the
National Assembly to promptly pass the Framework Act on Human Rights Policy so as to
enable local governments to implement human rights policy in a stable manner.6
3