successfully to evaluate its activities for the past decade and identify future challenges;
and segmented recommendations on discriminatory practices into employment
(recruitment, wage, termination etc.), provision and use of facilities, and sexual
harassment at school or work in order to assess progress and challenges, as a way to
review future directions it should take based on in-depth evaluation of its 10-year history.
The Commission analyzed the landscape of human rights awareness of Korean society,
based on which it conducted a survey on public awareness on human rights to utilize it for
formulating policy measures and identifying human rights-related challenges. The
analysis contributed to consolidate policies on the right to freedom, recover credibility
and enhance capabilities of the Commission, improve human rights conditions in Asia and
beyond, and affirm the need to strengthen human rights education.
The UN underlines responsibility of the government to offer human rights education
and actions to be taken on the government level, and recommends government to
implement human rights policies with a particular focus on education of higher education
institutions (universities, social welfare facilities etc.), teachers, government officials,
law-enforcement officers, and soldiers. In Korea, there is a rising demand for human
rights education, as an increasing number of regulations make it a requirement to provide
human rights education for students and the Human Rights Ordinance of local
governments have been enacted. To lay the groundwork for human rights education to
respond to the international trend and rising demand, the Commission actively briefed to
the National Assembly and related ministries and succeeded in bringing the bill on
Support for Human Rights Education on motions, which however failed to be enacted
unfortunately.
Additionally, the Commission published a guide on its major decisions for the past
decade titled ‘In the Name of Human Rights: 10 years of National Human Rights
Commission of the Republic of Korea and its 100 Decisions’. It released ‘Top 10
Discriminatory Practices Corrected in Korea’ selected among its recommendations on
Introduction
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