"Autonomous Police Committee Composition Male-Dominated, Some Without Human Rights Experts"…Police Agency Human Rights Commission Recommends Improvements

15 City and Province Autonomous Police Committee Members
Only 19 Women Among 104
4 Cities and Provinces Did Not Appoint Human Rights Experts

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] The Police Agency Human Rights Committee announced on the 25th that it has recommended the Commissioner of the National Police Agency to establish improvement measures to enhance gender equality and other aspects regarding the appointment methods and procedures of the city/province autonomous police committees formed under the implementation of the autonomous police system.

At a regular meeting on the 18th, the Police Agency Human Rights Committee discussed the current status of the 15 city/province autonomous police committees formed as of that day and their appointment procedures. They decided on this recommendation, stating that each autonomous police committee is predominantly composed of men and that human rights experts have not been properly appointed.

Under the current "Act on the Organization and Operation of the National Police and Autonomous Police," the city/province autonomous police committee consists of seven members: one recommended by the city/province governor, one by the city/province superintendent of education, one by the National Police Commission, two by the city/province council, and two by the committee nomination committee. In this process, efforts must be made to ensure that a specific gender does not exceed six-tenths of the members, and at least one member should be a human rights expert.

However, among the 104 members of the 15 city/province autonomous police committees, only 19 (18.2%) are women, and there are no women among the chairpersons or standing members. In Busan, Daejeon, Gyeongnam, and Gangwon, no women are included at all, while only Gyeongbuk complies with the regulation by appointing three female members. Additionally, the Police Agency Human Rights Committee confirmed that four cities/provinces?Busan, Daejeon, Jeonbuk, and Gyeongnam?did not appoint any human rights experts among their members.

The Police Agency Human Rights Committee's recommendation includes pushing for legal amendments to make the discretionary "effort to appoint" a mandatory requirement and establishing standards at the Police Agency level regarding methods and procedures to manage the committee nomination process more objectively and transparently.