Gyeonggi Province Launches Full Implementation of Human Rights Impact Assessment for Local Ordinances

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun Reporter] Gyeonggi Province announced on the 5th that it has begun implementing human rights impact assessments for newly enacted or amended local ordinances starting from the 1st.

By conducting advance screening of the enactment and amendment details of local ordinances closely related to residents' lives, it is expected to prevent social conflicts that may arise from human rights violations and discrimination issues, bringing substantive effects to the protection and advancement of residents' human rights.

The province has been sequentially reviewing departmental local ordinances since the second half of 2019 in preparation for implementing human rights impact assessments on enacted and amended local ordinances, and based on this data has prepared a manual containing evaluation indicators and procedures.

The manual covers 14 inspection items including ▲whether the language and content are easy for any general resident to understand ▲whether terms or expressions reflecting prejudices or stereotypes are included ▲whether residents are described as subjects of rights rather than targets of projects ▲whether the ordinance includes sufficient provisions to ensure residents' human rights, allowing each drafting department to conduct self-inspection on these items, and enabling them to request consultation with the Human Rights Official when assistance is needed. Through this process, the human rights capacity of relevant civil servants and the overall provincial administration can be enhanced.

Additionally, in addition to human rights impact assessments of currently implemented local ordinances, the province plans to expand the assessment to major provincial policies and projects, as well as the entire process from design to completion of public buildings.

Kang Sung-moon, Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Official, stated, "Since Gyeonggi Province can prevent in advance potential human rights violations and social conflicts that may arise when enacting local ordinances or implementing policies and projects, it can reduce unnecessary administrative costs and serves as a preventive mechanism for human rights protection and advancement," adding, "Through this, human rights sensitivity will permeate throughout the administration, enabling the implementation of rights-based governance."