Sources:

http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/society/schooling/586372.html

The post Coercive Private Academies appeared first on South Korean Human Rights Monitor.

First and foremost, in order to combat the inordinately high poverty rate of senior citizens, the annual pension must be raised. There is nothing else for it but to provide more funding that elderly citizens may escape poverty’s maw. Similarly, the health care system must be revamped. The Ministry of Health Care and Welfare has put forth that greater services with regard to medical rehabilitation, long term care, mental care, and other related services must be either revised or created anew. Only in this way can the health of our aged population be maintained.

Naturally, for this reworking to be effective a more efficient system of distributing information regarding these service must be provided for the elderly to learn of and take advantage of these services. This is especially important for citizens in rural areas and villages, which will be the first target of action. For too long have these kinds of necessary services been in demand without recourse. The government has finally decided to help meet the demand that has never been properly answered before. Finally it seems, that the senior citizens of our nation will have the proper care and resources that they need to maintain a reasonable quality of life, a long term injustice is finally finding its first foothold out of the darkness.

http://www.diodeo.com/comuser/news/news_view.asp?news_code=161575

The post Senior Citizens’ Pension Must be Raised appeared first on South Korean Human Rights Monitor.

On April 14^th, a former temporary worker at the Hyundai Motors manufacturing facility killed himself. On the 16^th, another temporary worker put himself on fire.

Non-governmental organizations (NGO), human rights organizations, politicians, and lawyers again criticized Hyundai-Kia’s unfair business practices. Large manufacturing firms like Hyundai Motors often go thru recruiting firms to hire temporary workers. Those temporary workers carry out exactly the same duties as regular workers but get paid much less. Also, temporary workers can be laid off at any time.

Suicides of laid off temporary workers out of desperation are not uncommon. Early in January 2013, Kia Motor’s temporary worker Mr. Yoon who was 35 years old committed suicide. After he got laid off, Mr. Yoon protested against Kia Motors, claiming temporary employees including himself should be reinstated as regular employees. Unfortunately, he did not see any hope. Upon his death, he left a two-page long suicide note deploring his situation. Kia Motors blamed the recruiting company for his death and denied any accountability.

Hiring temporary workers has been a long-standing business practice in manufacturing industries. A strong incentive for most enterprises to hire non-regular workers is “efficiency  and flexibility.” Large manufacturing firms can freely hire and fire employees upon their needs. They can provide less compensation, salaries, and vacations to temporary workers. However, such practice has always faced massive criticism by labor unions and human rights organizations. The judicial authority and government of Korea admitted such business practices as illegal; however, they have been reluctant to bring such practice to an end.

Business owners want to maximize their profits by hiring workers as temporary. Workers want a steady salary and job safety as regular workers. Unless two sides come to a compromise, the deaths of temporary workers will never end

Resource: http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?artid=201304172231115&code=940702

http://www.newscham.net/news/view.php?board=news&nid=70033

http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/583229.html

The post Ex Hyundai-Kia Motors Employee Self Immolate appeared first on South Korean Human Rights Monitor.

The Seoul Subway Labor Union (SSLU) and Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Workers Union (SMRTWU) asserted that Seoul Metro is violating passengers’ human rights by installing surveillance cameras inside subway carriages. Labor unions at a press conference on April 2nd stated “Surveillance cameras violates privacy and can be used as a tool for public inspection.”

They added “Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) urged them not to further install more surveillance cameras in subway carriages, but the subway companies, Seoul Metro and Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit, have not stopped from installing more cameras.”

   Subway lines 2 and 7, two surveillance cameras are installed in every carriage. The rationale that the two subway companies have for the installation of CCTVs sounds valid. They believe surveillance cameras can assist in the prevention of possible theft or sexual assault. Also, surveillance cameras allow them to promptly respond to any emergencies such as fire or bomb threat. With regard to the privacy violation, they stated all data images are automatically deleted after 30 days, which minimizes privacy issues.

    To put a long story short, they do not see any problem with it. However, public opinion is divided. Some claim they feel safer with surveillance cameras. The others feel their privacy is violated because somebody could be watching where they go and what they are doing.

   Several international human rights covenants give specific reference to privacy as a right. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the UN Convention on Migrant Workers and the UN Convention on Protection of the Child speak for protection of privacy. The 1950 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Article 8 states:

(1) Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

(2) There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except as in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health of morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Labor unions also argue that surveillance cameras not only violate people’s human rights but they are used as an excuse to cut down more employees. In 2008, Seoul Metro, in charge of Subway line 2, has explicitly announced their dedication for “one-driver-per-subway” policy. Previously, there were a driver and an assistant in each subway. By adopting this “one-driver” policy, the firm wants to improve its “business efficiencies” by reallocating their human resources. However, labor unions view it as an excuse to decrease the number of workers.

In addition to the issue of privacy infringement and public safety, the surveillance camera in Seoul Metro subways also adds on to the dwindling employment rates.

Resources: http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=103&oid=003&aid=0002004885

http://www.metroseoul.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=217717

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/06/116_113238.html

http://gilc.org/privacy/survey/intro.html

Hong Ju You

The post Seoul Metro Has Eyes on Passengers appeared first on South Korean Human Rights Monitor.

Basis for these contentions rise from the fact that populations of cities with offices are similar in size to Daejun. For instance, Kwangju is of comparable size. The lack of an office in Daejun causes issue when human rights violations occur. The offenses have to be taken to Seoul before any action can be taken, which gives rise to many human rights violation due to logistics issues. Without a local office these issues will continue to stack without timely relief. Therefore, in order to prevent and ensure the timely resolution of local human rights violations in the city of Deajun, there must be a division office of the National Human Rights Commission.

Source:

http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/society/area/584678.html

The post Daejun Voices Unheard appeared first on South Korean Human Rights Monitor.

This was the complaint Jae Bosun made as he attempted to climb the stairs to vote on the 24th a few days ago. The problem Bosun was had was that the voting booths were on the second floor. To those with disabilities or other impairments something as simple as the floor on which the voting booth is on can make the difference between voting or not. Thus, the decision to place voting booths on the second or higher floors can be seen as an act of obvious discrimination against many people.

That day Bosun had chosen to go out and vote, there were a total of 27 voting booths in his district. Of those, 11 booths were placed on the second floor or higher, a shocking percentage. Despite the obvious discriminatory nature of such voting practices, there is currently no regulation ensuring the placement of voting booths on the first floor, or if the booths must be placed on the second the stipulation that a temporary voting booth be provided for those with disabilities or limitations due to old age. However, there is a regulation that if the booths are placed above the second floor, that upon request of the voter, a temporary voting booth must be made available upon the first floor. Despite these compromises, the plain fact is that many do not know of this option. Further, even if they do know not all locations can accommodate. Thus, there must be further actions taken to ensure the equal voting privilege of those with disabilities or other complications.

Source:

http://news20.busan.com/controller/newsController.jsp?newsId=20130425000114

The post Those With Disabilities Should Vote appeared first on South Korean Human Rights Monitor.

Two anonymous members of the National Assembly expressed the reason of the withdrawal of the Act is simply put, because they did not want to be labeled as pro North Korean or as a gay assemblyman. However, many human rights NGOs, and human rights defenders criticized the oblivion of the opposition party’s position. It is ironic that the Korean people are so proud of having a Korean head of the United Nations(UN) when behind the curtain they are afraid of enacting the legislation to implement the UN Human Rights Council(UNHRC) recommendations.

To be more specific, the UNHRC has adopted the working group report and the statement of the Korea government accepting 42 of 79 recommendations given from the Member States during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). In the report, the Korean government pledged to enact the Comprehensive Anti-discrimination Act. Even though the recommendations from the UPR are not legally binding, international shame can not be avoided if they are not observed.

Instead of applying the legislation on the discrimination by sectoral marginal group, the Anti-discrimination Act comprehensively prohibits discrimination. As an universal human rights standard. the Act has become mainstream in the world, but Korea is still fighting for the gap.

Sources :

http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/society/society_general/583900.html

http://kor.theasian.asia/archives/77357

http://www.ildaro.com/sub_read.html?uid=6333&section=sc5

http://www.humanpolicy.com/xe/humanpolicy_law/37712

The post Comprehensive Anti-discrimination Act Withdrawal: Korea human rights situation back tracks appeared first on South Korean Human Rights Monitor.

On April 10^th, the City of Seoul announced its “Plan for Improvement of Call Taxis for Disabled People” which includes the input of 50 extra taxis for physically disadvantaged people, bringing up the total number of cabs to 410.

In 2012, the average usage approximated 2234 people a day, amounting to 810,769 cab calls throughout the year. However, there were complaints regarding the length of time it takes to get onto the vehicle which averaged at 30 minutes, and 60 minutes after 5pm.

Increasing the number of taxis available, the City aims to have the disabled passengers on board within 20 minutes and more taxi drivers will be hired in the second half of the year, in addition to the 50 drivers recruited earlier this year. A spokesman for the City of Seoul commented that “following the increase of drivers, the operation of call taxis is expected to be raised from 84% to 100% (in performance).”

In efforts to improve the quality of service, the city of Seoul will carry out satisfaction surveys and form a consultative body for the operation of call taxis for disabled people in order to discuss various issues such as the restrictions of usage and the taxi fare system.

Sources:

http://www.mt.co.kr/view/mtview.php?type=1&no=2013041008250569220&outlink=1

http://www.hankyung.com/news/app/newsview.php?aid=2013041051611

The post Government Increases Number of Taxis for the Physically Disadvantaged appeared first on South Korean Human Rights Monitor.

Disabilities legal support and advocacy groups have decided to to file a lawsuit against several businesses, who have yet to make their home pages accessible to those with disabilities. Currently working in concert with two law firms’ Eastern Sky(동천) and Pacific(태평양) disabilities division, these groups hope to have lawsuits filed by the middle of next month for damages against those with disabilities,accounting for 20,000,000 Korean won against 4 sites.

The firms being target were found by Eastern Sky(동천) after researching the subject amongst those with Disabilities. From its findings a handful of firms were found wanting and were chosen as the subjects of the lawsuit.

The Korea Differently Abled Federation manager, Won Wongpil, had this to say regarding this issue,”Five companies have been found to be offering prejudicial web access services against disabled for which a lawsuit is being prepared as law firms and related parties discuss the issue.”

The reason that this lawsuit is important is because it marks a warning for other companies to see and be advised. There have been new laws placed recently strengthening the rights held by those with disabilities. For instance in it is now punishable for law to have prejudicial access to web pages for disabled. This lawsuit will show other companies that those who do not make the appropriate adjustments to their web pages will be similarly dealt with.

Currently the reality of the situation is that the majority of web pages in Korea are inaccessible or difficult to access for those with disabilities. In fact the only website with a very high accessibility is POSCO’s website alone. The reality of the situation is that many websites have to raise their accessibility; the issue is that this reality isn’t well understood. With time and the force of law, hopefully this discriminatory action against those with disabilities can be corrected.

Source:

http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/04/26/2013042600152.html

The post Prejudiced Internet Pages appeared first on South Korean Human Rights Monitor.

These cases reflect the worrying situation of private academies which have become institutions of brutal child abuse and human rights violations. Maltreatment and violations of students in private academies have risen dramatically since the prohibition of physical punishment in schools, last year. In addition to physical harm, students of private academies are subject to verbal abuse such as profanities and crude remarks from the teachers. According to research carried out by Chung-Ang University’s Graduate School of Social Development, 47.9% of students have heard their teachers use profanities while 41.6% have experienced physical punishment. 32.2% claimed their personal belongings had been searched or taken from them. Turning a blind eye to these malpractices, parents continue to send their children to such academies, all for the sake of getting a better report card.

Such complacency is worrying enough. However, paying more cash and driving the extra mile to encourage violation of their children hits a whole new horrific level of brutality. They may as well be sending their kids to a local gang for every incomplete homework or unsatisfactory exam score.

Not only is physical punishment monstrous but it is, in fact, prohibited by law. The Article 8 Section 3 of the Students’ Rights Regulations of 2011 forbids physical punishment on students in nurseries, schools and private academies in Seoul. While schools have effectively dropped the use of capital punishment, the governmental policies and enforcement fail to

The underlying problem that must be dealt with is the mindset of both the parents and students involved. Students’ Rights must not only be legally codified but widely distributed to the public along with education on human rights. Parents who knowingly send their children to these academies or hire tutors to hit their children must be considered unfit to be a parent and face legal ramifications. It must be made mandatory for schools to educate students about child abuse and rights they are entitled to. They must be encouraged to report instances of physical or mental abuse and use national hotlines, like Childline in the United Kingdom, for reporting such cases and to receive assistance.

We all know and often say that children are our future. With our schoolchildren forcedly sat in institutions, exposed to vulgarity, cruelty and subject to physical violence, Korea’s future looks pretty grim, as does its standing on human rights for children. Collective action must urgently be taken to create an environment where Korean children can enjoy their basic human rights, both emotionally and physically safe from fear and punishment.

Sources:

http://www.mediaus.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=33165

http://www.munhwa.com/news/view.html?no=2013040201030127168002

http://news.donga.com/3/all/20130327/54003681/1

The post Extra Pay for Every Slap: Parents Seek Abusive Education Centers appeared first on South Korean Human Rights Monitor.