The specialized training program aimed at developing the expertise at human rights
counseling, reflecting the needs of people through annual surveys. It received wide
favorable feedbacks. However, the session on work-related stress in the program did not
provided due to budgetary constraints.
The Commission also operated a specialist counselor team consisting of 80 specialists
in diverse fields and introduced a reservation counseling system by posting counseling
schedules on its website to publicize and to maximize the utilization of specialists.
With respect to receiving complaints regarding detention facilities which comprise a
large portion of complaint cases since its establishment, the Commission encouraged the
submission of complaints by post as a measure to improve the in-person petition system,
which had an effect of reducing unnecessary petition cases. The Commission plans to
implement diverse measures to make institutional improvements by establishing
collaborative work ties with detention facilities and institutions.
Overall, it is considered that in 2010 the Human Rights Counseling Center effectively
performed its functions and role as a channel to the Commission. However, it is urgently
needed to establish an internal system to satisfy the diverse and specialized needs of the
public and employ specialized counselors who are able to operate it in a stable manner.
Moreover, in order to efficiently cope with the rapidly growing phone counseling workload
of counselors, another urgent task is to come up with multilateral measures, including
increasing counselor personnel, making their status secure by converting them to
permanent positions, boosting their morale, and offering evolving training programs to
develop counseling expertise.
Chapter 2. Human Rights Counseling and Complaint Processing
67