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Commission's Major Activities
special school for the disabled in Gangseo-gu District, Seoul is a violation of the spirit of
equality of the Constitution. In this connection, it called for a more active role from the Minister
of Education and the superintendents of education, and urged the Mayor of Seoul and the
head of the Gangseo-gu District Office to undertake efforts to raise public understanding and
awareness of persons with disabilities to prevent a recurrence in the future.
D. Opinion on the proposed 3rd Basic Policy Plan for Multi-cultural
Families (2018-2022)
In response to a request for feedback from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family
regarding the proposed 3rd Basic Policy Plan for Multi-cultural Families (2018-2022),
the Commission on 9 November expressed the need for additional policy tasks, including
improvement of local governments’ international wedding support program; a new definition for
multi-cultural families to cope with the growing number of and diversification of multi-cultural
families; the removal of the guarantor requirement in relation to the F-6 visa; a review of the
discretionary screening of sojourn and naturalization; a legal basis to guarantee stable sojourn
for children and youths who don’t have a nationality or registered country; and a comprehensive
act prohibiting discrimination against social minorities.
The proposed third basic policy plan positively shifts the policy focus from early adaptation
to long-term settlement. However, in the Commission’s view, the plan fails to fully integrate
the recommendations of the international community on refugees and their families, the
Commission’s recommendations on the Human Rights NAP, the recommended guidelines on
the rights of migrants, and suggestions made by immigration groups.
Notably, despite the growing number and types of immigrant families, the plan does not
fully address the policy shortfalls on sojourn status, as well as the gender and human rights
perspectives. Thus, the Commission concluded that the guarantor requirement to verify identity
be abolished and the procedures for sojourn extension be simplified, since they violate the
constitutional provision that marriage and family life be entered into and sustained on the basis
of individual dignity and gender equality (paragraph 1, Article 36 of the Constitution).