National Human Rights Commission of Korea Annual Report 2015 South Korea was elected to chair a UN human rights panel for a year for the first time since its Part I 3. International Environment membership in the UN. As a result, Ambassador Choi Kyong-Lim, who headed the country’s permanent mission in Geneva, Switzerland, came to serve as the council’s chair in 2016. institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights”, which calls on national human rights institutions (NHRIs) to express opinions and engage in more active participation in the UN proceedings, including the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) held in New York. This allowed exchanges between the UN and NHRIs to take place in New York, in addition to Geneva. The International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (ICC), the international council of NHRIs, deferred its decision on the status of the Commission three times in a row (March and November in 2014, and March in 2015), recommending a legislation to guarantee the transparency and inclusiveness of the appointment process of commissioners. In response, the proposal for the amendment of the NHRC Act was formulated to reflect the ICC recommendations, went through the public hearing and pre-announcement of legislation, and was placed on the agenda of the plenary session in the National Assembly. And the ICC is planning to deliver its decision on the status of the Commission in the first half of 2016. Chapter 3. Basic Directions and Major Achievements in 2015 1. Basic Direction The Commission concentrated its efforts to implement its fourth mid-term work plan, the 4th National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. The action plan lays out a vision to realize a “World of Dignity for All” with four strategic goals, a special task, and a featured project (the 2016 project). The four strategic goals include: ① laying a foundation to promote human rights; ② protecting human rights of the vulnerable and marginalized; ③ spreading the values of human rights in society; and ④ highlighting human rights issues and Part I Introduction | 7 Introduction On December 17th, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution on “National