UN Human Rights Recommendations to South Korea
Admin GHRTV
27-01-2023
Jasmine Velasquez
East Asia and Human Rights Researcher
Global Human Rights Defence
The South Korean delegation made up of 10 ministries (Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Employment and Labor, and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family), participated in the 4th Universal Periodic Review (UPR) held in Geneva, Switzerland on the 26th of January (27th Korean Central Time) (Song, 2023).
The UPR is one of the key functions of the UN Human Rights Council, as a system in which all 193 UN member states mutually review the human rights situation of each country through a peer review method and recommend improvements every four and a half years (Song, 2023). South Korea has participated in this function since the first round of deliberations in 2008 (Song, 2023). In order to prepare for the UPR, the South Korean government held a meeting with the National Human Rights Commission and civil society organizations in August 2022 to prepare their national report and submitted the report in November 2022 (Song, 2023).
Two primary concerns were brought to South Korea by foreign states. The first was its lack of an ‘Anti-Discrimination Law’ (Kang, 2023). Member states such as Germany, Belgium, and Finland recommended South Korea enact an anti-discrimination law (Kang, 2023). The main purpose of such a law would be to prohibit all discrimination based on gender, disability, sexual orientation, and more (Kang, 2023). In Korea, such a bill has been repeatedly submitted to the National Assembly since 2007, but has failed each time (Kang, 2023). Currently, in the 21st National Assembly, a bill has been initiated by Justice Party lawmaker Jang Hye-young (Kang, 2023).
Some member states also recommended Korea abolish the death penalty (Kang, 2023). In South Korea, the death penalty has been suspended since 1997 (Kang, 2023). Other issues that were brought up about South Korea include the reorganization of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the human rights of North Korean defectors, and the protection of human rights of the socially underprivileged, such as women, children, the elderly, the disabled, and migrant workers (Kang, 2023).
There have also been several positive evaluations of the human rights situation in South Korea (Kang, 2023). Member States claim that human rights have generally improved in most areas of society since the last UPR in 2017, citing Korea's ratification of the Convention for the Prevention of Enforced Disappearance, ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and enactment of the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (Kang, 2023).
Domestically, the Ministry of Justice caused controversy by not inviting the director of the Human Rights Bureau to the UPR, which it has consistently done since the second UPR deliberations (Kang, 2023).
The Final Report, which contains the Korean government's position on each country's recommendations, will be officially adopted at the 53rd plenary session of the UN Human Rights Council in June (Kang, 2023). South Korea has international human rights obligations, particularly to the main issues of discrimination, which is protected under Article 2 of the ICCPR, which South Korea ratified in 1990. (Ratification Status By Country).
Sources and further reading:
Kang Y, “유엔 회원국들 “한국, 포괄적 차별금지법 제정하고 사형제 폐지해야”” (경향신문, January 27, 2023) <https://www.khan.co.kr/national/court-law/article/202301271709001> accessed January 27, 2023.
Song H, “법무부, 제4차 유엔 국가별 정례인권검토(UPR) 심의 참가” (제주교통복지신문, January 27, 2023) <https://www.jejutwn.com/news/article.html?no=160254> accessed January 27, 2023.
“Ratification Status by Country” (United Nations Human Rights Treaty Body Database) <https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?CountryID=141&Lang=EN> accessed January 27, 2023.
