National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea Submission to the Pre-sessional Working Group on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child(CRC) A. Introduction 1. National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) submits this report to the pre-sessional working group of the Committee on the Rights of the Child for generation of the List of Issues, before the Consolidated 3rd and 4th Periodic Report on implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter referred to as "CRC") by the Korean Government is reviewed. NHRCK, as an independent national human rights institution, having monitored the national implementation of CRC in this country, intends to provide information which the Committee on the Rights of the Child may refer to in generating the List of Issues. 2. The Consolidated 3rd and 4th Periodic Report by the Korean Government is better than the Consolidated 1st and 2nd Periodic Report, in both its compliance with the Committee's guidelines on preparation of the reports and the information it provides. Still, the Report is largely confined to describing the national legislation and policies concerning children and is not sufficient in critically assessing the implementation of the individual rights included in CRC. Accordingly, NHRCK hereby provides the Committee with information on the current situation of children's rights in Korea which is complementary to what is given in the Periodic Report. 3. This report, by reference to the General Guidelines regarding the Form and Content of Periodic Reports (CRC/C58/Rev.1), presents pending issues related to children's rights under the eight theme clusters and the Protocols and, for each of the issues, describes the situation on implementation, etc., followed by the questions which should be asked to the Korean Government. - 1 -