National Human Rights Commission of Korea Annual Report 2020
enhancing its standing in the international community. As the chair of the GANHRI Working
Group on Ageing, it continued to be actively involved in protecting the rights of older persons,
including hosting international conferences.
The Commission continued its efforts to strengthen implementation of international
human rights standards. It monitored the implementation status of the relevant government
organizations, cooperated internationally to shape discussions on the enactment of an equality
law, and hosted a conference to discuss how international human rights standards can be used
up front in legislation efforts.
To expand the concept of human rights as future-oriented values, the Commission sought to
promote and encourage public discussion on new human rights concepts, including human rights
in North Korea, human rights perspectives in business management, digital rights, right to life,
safety, environment, and culture, and human rights in the military.
Noting the impacts that new data processing technologies such as AI and big data have on
people’s lives, the Commission sought specific ways for digital rights to be protected, and in the
future, it plans to approach this task in a more active and systematic manner.
In the area of human rights in the military, the Commission conducted on-site inspections of
military confinement facilities to monitor their functions, facilities, and environment, examine
proposed improvement of military confinement facility operation since the military guardhouse
system was abolished, and make recommendations to protect and promote human rights in the
military. It also made a quick emergency relief recommendation on an emergency case involving
forced discharge of a soldier who had undergone transgender surgery.
Regarding the human rights situation in North Korea, the Commission announced a statement in
relation to North Korea’s killing of a South Korean public official and responded to current issues
in a timely manner by organizing the North Korean Human Rights Forum and a Special North
Korea Human Rights Committee meeting.
In 2020, there were 804 (8.2%) less petitions filed compared to the previous year, a fall that
could be attributed to the social distancing measures under COVID-19. The decrease was seen
in petitions related to human rights abuses as well as discrimination. On the other hand, the
number of petitions processed increased by 163 (1.8%), owing to active processing efforts. The
number of remedied cases also rose by 569 (54.7%), with the rate of remedies jumping to 17.3%,
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