Gyeonggi Province Expands Human Rights Monitoring Group to 478 Members...Citizens Lead Efforts to Improve Human Rights Issues

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province is significantly expanding this year's Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Monitoring Group (hereinafter 'Human Rights Monitoring Group') from the existing 29 members to 478 members and initiating human rights improvement activities led by provincial citizens.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 25th, the province previously appointed the Human Rights Monitoring Group in January, conducted orientation and capacity-building education in February, and launched full-scale activities of the Human Rights Monitoring Group starting in March.

The Human Rights Monitoring Group, which launched as Gyeonggi Province's Human Rights Guardian in November 2020, plays roles including ▲reporting human rights violations and discriminatory acts occurring in the public sector ▲proposing improvements regarding human rights policies and systems ▲participating in provincial human rights policies ▲conducting promotional activities.

In fact, Lee Jae-won, president of the Korea Human Rights Promotion Institute, who is serving as a citizen member of the Human Rights Monitoring Group, submitted a report in September of last year stating that non-compliance with mandatory employment rates for persons with disabilities at public institutions under the province constitutes discriminatory conduct, and in October reported that A Scholarship Foundation's exclusion of distance universities such as Korea National Open University and cyber universities from its annual scholarship candidate selection process constitutes discriminatory conduct, demonstrating achievements in resolving human rights issues as the relevant institutions accepted the opinions of the Human Rights Monitoring Group and implemented corrections.

The 478 members of the Human Rights Monitoring Group appointed this year are individuals with significant interest and expertise in human rights, composed through open recruitment targeting provincial citizens and recommendations from the province, cities and counties, and public institutions: ▲321 provincial citizens ▲88 government officials in charge of human rights affairs at the provincial, city, and county levels ▲69 employees at public institutions under the province, cities and counties.

The province expects that citizen-led human rights improvement activities will become more active this year, as the legal basis for the composition and operation of the Human Rights Monitoring Group has been newly established in accordance with the provincial human rights ordinance revised in July of last year.

To this end, the province is providing activity allowances to members who actively participate in provincial human rights policies and conducting education to strengthen human rights activity capabilities.

Furthermore, outstanding members will be given opportunities to participate as members of provincial human rights policy bodies such as the Citizen Human Rights Jury, human rights impact assessments, and the Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Charter Establishment Committee, and outstanding individuals and organizations will receive commendations from the provincial governor and designated Gyeonggi regional currency as incentives.

Kim Jang-hyun, head of human rights at the province, stated, "The Human Rights Monitoring Group, composed in terms of public-private cooperation, will serve as an important partner in Gyeonggi Province's human rights administration and work together based on strong cooperation to create a world where everyone's human rights are respected."